$16,500 fundraising win secures Sozo machine for Murray Bridge...

$16,500 fundraising win secures Sozo machine for Murray Bridge hospital
Eight community groups and one individual have enabled the purchase of a diagnostic tool which could change lives among people recovering from breast cancer.

PERI STRATHEARN
FEB 12, 2024
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Breast care nurse Annie Williams thanks volunteers from eight community groups for raising the $16,500 needed to buy a diagnostic machine. Photo: Peri Strathearn.
Breast cancer survivors in the Murraylands now have access to life-changing technology thanks to a $16,500 fundraising effort by local community groups.

McGrath Foundation breast care nurse Annie Williams held a morning tea last Tuesday to thank the locals who helped raise funds for a Sozo machine.

By passing a low-level electrical current through the body, the machine can detect – in about 30 seconds – imbalances between limbs, or post-surgery changes, which may indicate early-stage lymphoedema.

Breast cancer survivors are particularly susceptible to lymphoedema, a type of swelling associated with the lymphatic system which can cause discomfort and more serious health problems.

The machine will be kept at Country Health Connect, in Murray Bridge, and used by Ms Williams and a new lymphoedema nurse, Rachel Strong.

“It will make a huge impact for lots of people in the community, meaning they can get their treatment and early interventions here rather than having to travel down to Adelaide,” Ms Williams said.

“I’m so, so excited.”

Eight community groups and one individual were involved in the successful fundraising effort:

• Bridge Patches and Quilters
  
  
• Helen Lubcke
  
  
• Lions Club of Murray Bridge
  
  
• Mannum Lions Club
  
  
• Murray Bridge Neighbourhood Watch
  
  
• Murray Bridge Soldiers’ Memorial Hospital Sunshiners
  
  
• The Murray Bridge Uniting Church craft group
  
  
• The Rotary Club of Murray Bridge
  
  
• Woods Point Quilters

Bridge Patches and Quilters member Sue Job said the fundraiser’s success showed what locals could achieve when they were determined and worked together.

In this case, almost $17,000 had been raised in seven or eight months without any kind of coordinated campaign.

“I think community groups should get together and do this sort of thing more often,” she told Murray Bridge News.

Ms Williams estimated the machine would aid hundreds of locals in their ongoing recovery from breast cancer and related issues each year.


The Breast Cancer Network Australia will host a public forum in Murray Bridge next month. Photo: BCNA/Instagram.
Learn more about breast cancer and you
Meanwhile, an upcoming forum in Murray Bridge will give locals a chance to learn more about breast cancer, connect with others going through the same experiences and find out about support available.

The Breast Cancer Network Australia will host the free forum at the Bridgeport Hotel from 9am-3pm on March 6.

The event will include sessions for people with early-stage or metastatic breast cancer; and will feature presentations by oncologist and associate professor Rohit Joshi and by Charlotte Tottman, a psychologist specialising in cancer-related distress and host of the podcast Upfront About Breast Cancer.

Meanwhile, Breastscreen SA’s mobile clinic will be in Murray Bridge from now until April 19, offering free breast screening to women over the age of 40.
The organisation mainly recommended breast screens – or mammograms – for women between the ages of 50 and 75.

However, it encouraged women who had noticed specific changes in their breasts to consult a GP.

• Book a breast screen appointment: Visit bookings.breastscreen.sa.gov.au or call 13 20 50.
  
  
• More information about Breastscreen SA: www.breastscreen.sa.gov.au.
  
  
• More information about the BCNA forum: www.bcna.org.au.