The hope is they will be an effective bridge between their communities and the vital health service, which can sometimes appear daunting or complex to patients. 

Fairfax recently reported the rate of cancer mortality was a staggering 45 per cent higher for indigenous people compared to their non-indigenous counterparts, according to research published in the Medical Journal of Australia (MJA). 

Moree health worker Cherie Piening said education was needed to dispel fears surrounding cancer and promote early detection. 

“It’s got to be done through educating the people on the importance of screening and catching it early,” Miss Piening said. 

“People hear the word ‘cancer’ and automatically think it’s a death sentence.”

She said healthy lifestyles could prevent the onset of cancer and getting tested needed to be discussed openly. 

“We need to get the word out,” she said. “It’s about taking the message to the community, because they’re not going to come to you.”

She said the workshop would help health workers to more thoroughly understand the process patients would go through.

North West Cancer Centre oncologist Mathew George said outreach clinics and community projects had been launched in Moree to benefit locals. 

He said the chemotherapy clinic established in Moree started with nine cancer patients in 2010 and had swelled dramatically, now treating between 35 and 40 people. 

He said it was important for health workers to be aware of the practicalities of how cancer treatment works in order to “bridge the gap”. 

“Only health workers can change the attitude of the people,” Dr George said. 

The MJA report also revealed a decade-long disparity between metropolitan and rural areas, with country people suffering a seven per cent higher cancer mortality rate, meaning 9000 additional rural cancer patients died who would not have if the mortality rate was the