WA Youth Cancer Service
The WA Youth Cancer Service is a state-wide service sponsored by Sir Charles Gairdner Hospital, based in the You Can Centre within the WA Comprehensive Cancer Centre.
The service offers age-appropriate psychosocial assessment and a multidisciplinary approach to developing a disease-specific medical treatment plan for young people diagnosed with cancer aged 15-25, in consultation with the treating medical teams. The goals of the service are to support the maintenance of as close to normal age and developmental milestones and personal goals as possible, in the context of a cancer diagnosis and treatment.
Care Coordination - Our Cancer Nurse Coordinators are specialist registered nurses who are available to young people with cancer and their families to provide expert support and assistance in coordinating treatment.
Psychosocial Services - Psychosocial support may include engaging with a young person’s family, partner and friends to ensure their support network can be strengthened and maintained. We strive to empower young people to be involved in their own health care and decisions, whilst remaining as connected as possible to ‘normal’ life activities throughout their cancer journey. Services include age-specific screening, assessment and care planning, formal counselling, group-based therapeutic activities and referral and liaison with community-based supports. These services are provided by our specialist nurses, youth development officer and counsellor.
Medical Services - We provide specialist youth-focused medical advice and care for 15 – 25 year olds with cancer. Our YCS Clinician works closely with treating cancer specialists to ensure that patients have access to medical expertise relevant to youth health and developmental considerations in planning appropriate treatments for their specific type of cancer
Exercise Physiology – Our senior Accredited Exercise Physiologist provides patients with specific exercise advice and rehabilitation to help minimise the impact of their cancer treatment. Exercises tailored to their needs are prescribed to help patients maintain or improve muscular strength, endurance and flexibility so that they can tolerate treatment better and maintain the physical strength to participate in normal everyday tasks.
Education Services - Our service aims to identify the specific educational and vocational needs for each patient and provide support during and after treatment. We can link patients into other services as needed to facilitate ongoing maintenance of educational and vocational goals and provide advocacy with the young person’s teaching institution or vocational training service.