Community Cancer Care Connectors

On November 30th 2024, we officially launched the Nishkam Community Cancer Care Connectors Project, which was received with an amazing community turnout, promoting cancer awareness to over 150 people, indicating the demand for cancer knowledge among the community.

In January of 2025, we officially held the first of our monthly workshops planned for the year, focusing on Cervical & Ovarian Cancer. Our cancer awareness workshops are designed to inform the community about specific areas of cancer each month, collecting feedback from attendees and the wider community as to which topics they wish to learn about, as well as looking at the data and seeing which forms of cancer are most prevalent in our community.

We also host workshops at Guru Nanak Sikh Gurdwara, Sedgley St, Wolverhampton to spread awareness in the Black Country, alongside the awareness we’re spreading in Birmingham by delivering the sessions at the Nishkam Centre.

In February, we followed up our Cervical & Ovarian Cancer Awareness workshop with a workshop on Kidney Cancer, the 6th most common cancer in the UK, with events at both the Nishkam Centre and Guru Nanak Sikh Gurdwara, Sedgley Street, Wolverhampton 

Following our Kidney Cancer Workshop, we focused our next on Prostate Cancer, the UK’s most common cancer, with its incidence rate set to rise by a projected 15%.

As the summer months were here, we thought it was important to share information about the sun’s effects on your skin and melanoma. This was an important workshop for the community as it dispelled the misconceptions of not using sunscreen due to the colour of your skin and melanin acting as a barrier. 

Each month, we focus on a different type of cancer to increase awareness amongst the community, providing key information, such as risk factors, signs and symptoms and much more. Sometimes, we even have health professionals who specialise in the area come in and speak on the topic.

Community Buddies provide practical support to help take the strain off people with cancer and their families, as well as being someone they can chat to face-to-face.

Digital Buddies provide people with someone to talk to regularly about how they’re feeling, as well as providing local signposting support via phone or video call.

Means-tested payments to help with the extra costs that living with cancer can bring. These grants can be used to help ease additional financial pressures such as increased energy bills, cost of travel to and from hospital and home adaptations. Grants are available through the Welfare Rights Service, webchat or via email. Healthcare professionals can make applications for people with cancer.

Receive expert information and advice on all aspects of employment rights, including how people with cancer can talk to their employer, negotiate adjustments at work, disputes and discrimination, and taking time off/sick leave.

Trained financial advisers will be available to offer impartial information and tailored guidance including pensions, mortgages, banking, debt, getting or claiming on insurance, making a will, power of attorney and dealing with probate. They can also support with casework in claiming on pensions or insurance claims, make referrals for debt advice and support with financial products.

Access to a wide range of specialists and tailored support to help people with how they’re feeling, provide practical information and support them in their native language to meet their specific needs and provide culturally appropriate support.

Experienced, qualified nurses will provide you with expert information on symptoms, diagnosis, treatment, and how to manage side effects; living with cancer, palliative care, end-of-life and coping with grief.