My name is Anna and I would like to introduce myself as the new Support Service Manager for Ovacome.
You may have seen a piece about me in the last newsletter. I’ve worked in healthcare in a variety of posts for the last seventeen years. I trained as an occupational therapist and worked with people with cancer in many settings, before changing roles to staff (later manage) a busy cancer help centre, which involved listening to and acting on the needs of people affected by cancer.
I’ll be running the support line and email and I’m here 10am-5pm Monday to Friday. Do get in contact with me if there’s anything you want to talk through.
Email: support@ovacome.org.uk
Telephone: 0800 008 7054
You can also private message me on this forum as OvacomeSupport. I look forward to giving you the support and information you need.
Best wishes
Anna
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Hi Anna, lovely to meet you and hope you enjoy working with us. We have a lovely site with nice people. Now and again we have the odd laugh or banter and that is grand too,
The support line has been a a Godsend to me in the past. Thanks for letting us know about the changes and welcome to our friendship circle. Xx
Welcome!
You have such an important job, and one which I hope will give you a lot of satisfaction as well as frustration and tears, on occasion, no doubt.
You've some special colleagues and I hope you enjoy working with them. As to the callers and members, well what can I say... we are a motley and lovely bunch ! And you'll get to know us over time.
Hi Anna, good luck in your new role and thanks for introducing yourself!
I do have a question... You may have seen a recent post (by Nicky100) where a lot of members expressed a keenness to meet up. When I first joined the forum and became an Ovacome member (4 years ago) I was aware that in many areas there was a ROCC (someone who acted as a regional point of contact) and over the years I have also heard talk of the 'Phone Friend' network.... There doesn't seem to be any talk of these schemes anymore... Do they still exist or have they been suspended? Many members live outside of London and so as the recent thread shows, there is an ongoing wish to meet with women who have similar experiences and to reduce some of the isolation caused by this disease and its consequences. My understanding is that this was the starting premis for the creation of Ovacome.
We talked about this in the team meeting this week so I can now update you. FoneFriends has been generally superseded by this forum, but we also have a spreadsheet of women who are available for phone contact, so anyone who would like to be added to the list can contact me. The Adopt a… campaign is building regional networks and so is working in a similar way to ROCCS.
If anyone wants information about local support groups they can contact me and I’m happy to provide any information.
I hope this is helpful, do get in touch if you have any other queries.
I'm still a little unsure though, sorry! So has the ROCCS scheme also come to an end? I haven't seen mention of it by anyone on the forum for over a year...
My understanding of the 'Adopt a..' scheme was that it was specifically a way of raising awareness of OVCA & Ovacome through distributing leaflets and material at libraries, surgeries etc rather than an informal supportive network program of and for women diagnosed with OVCA... Forgive me if I've misunderstood but I thought the ROCCS undertook similar awareness raising but also often acted as a regional contact point for women too...
I think there's a page on the Ovacome website that has details of support groups already running, which is great. The thread I made mention of though demonstrated both a wish and need for many women from this forum to find a way to connect with each other beyond the screen...
Thank you for your message, I’m sorry for causing confusion. The ROCCS scheme isn’t at an end, but the team will be meeting in the new year to discuss the regional networks and support going forward. I’ll update the forum with the developments.
Of course - do give me a ring on 0800 008 7054 or email me support@ovacome.org.uk. I'm here today and next week Monday-Friday 10am-5pm. I'm off between Christmas and New Year but back on 2 January 2018.
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Introducing myself
Wales' First Ovarian Cancer Support Group
