Breast Cancer Awareness Month: Fed rep encourages members to be 'switched on’ to their bodies

30 October 2024

To mark Breast Cancer Awareness Month (October), we caught up with Suffolk Police Federation workplace representative Emma Arthurs-Newman as she outlined her plans to help members stay on top of checking themselves for signs of the illness.

Together with colleague Hayley O’Donnell, Emma is the single-point-of-contact (SPOC) for police officers living with cancer across Suffolk and Norfolk Constabularies.

The pair are responsible for assisting officers through arrangements such as wellbeing meetings and peer support groups and by connecting them to relevant care organisations.

Emma took on the position after she was herself diagnosed with breast cancer in 2017, becoming tumour-free later that year.

Emma Arthurs-Newman.

She said: “Being there for officers and staff affected by cancer is as important to me as ever and as someone who suffered specifically from breast cancer, this awareness period will always feel significant.

“It’s so important that people are switched on to this illness and the impact it can have on lives. I am proud to hold my SPOC role and it continues to be a privilege to help members of the police family in some of the most difficult moments of their lives.

“Recently, I have been linking in with Force leaders, line managers and human resources to try and bring about more attention to our regional cancer causes such as the Blossom Appeal, Cancer Support Suffolk, and the Big C, which is based in Norfolk.

“Of course, the charities everyone has heard of – Cancer Research and Macmillan, for example – are invaluable, but I think it’s crucial that people know what’s accessible to them locally, too.”

Cancer

In addition to inspiring this force role, Emma’s own experience with cancer has also influenced her duties as a Fed rep.

The 47-year-old has taken on equality work shaped around policies and reasonable adjustments for officers living with critical illness and has supported such individuals through the process of ill-health retirement.

She has also begun to incorporate cancer-related awareness into her efforts representing the Federation in the Constabulary’s welfare van, which she takes out across both counties to engage with frontline cops.

Speaking about her ambitions for the van, which she has branded as ‘Feels on Wheels’ for when the vehicle is in her use, she added: “I want to turn it into a ‘cancer roadshow’, if you like, where our members get some good-quality support coming to them while they are on shift.

“The idea is to do this at least quarterly, with the Force’s workplace health nurse present alongside me in the van, who can answer all sorts of questions.

“We will also have prosthetic models of breasts and testicles containing tumours with us so people can become more familiar with what cancer can feel and look like.

“Education on checking your body is so important, especially when it can be challenging to detect cancer in certain tissue types and with the fact we are heading into winter, so people generally wear more layers.

Good habits

“I would urge everyone to get into good habits with this, because it could save your life.”

Emma also issued encouragement to Federation members with the next step after checking their bodies – to visit a GP if they are concerned with anything they may find.

“Seven years out from my treatment, it was only a month ago I was at the doctor’s for something I wasn’t sure about.

“It got the all-clear, and now I know I am okay – but I will continue to stay alert to my body. A key topic highlighted by Breast Cancer Awareness Month is secondary breast cancer, which is where the illness has spread to other body parts.

“It’s crucial to keep paying attention, no matter your gender, or your age – I was fairly young when I was diagnosed – and to go and get anything you are worried about seen by a professional.

“I will never be a replacement for a GP, but if I can help other people, including my police colleagues, to become more aware and alert to cancer, then that is my job done.”

Emma ended by advising that Federation members with any concerns or worries around cancer can reach her via email on emma.arthurs@polfed.org.

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