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Reading 3 mins.
in collaboration with
Isabelle Huet (deputy general manager of the RoseUp association)
On the occasion of Women’s Rights Day, Doctissimo has chosen to give the floor to people at the heart of the subject. In this interview, we will discuss with Isabelle Huet, director of the Rose Up association, the question of the care of women facing cancer.
RoseUp accompanies, informs and defends the rights of women affected by cancer as soon as the disease is announced, during and after treatment. RoseUp is a national association of general interest approved by the Ministry of Health, and founded by women affected by cancer and their relatives. Its general manager, Isabelle Huet, answers our questions.
Doctissimo: What are the recent advances for women facing cancer?
Isabelle Huet : Already, the first thing to say is that cancer is less and less taboo. There is a freedom of speech for women on this subject which is very important.
The second notable advance is the establishment of a basket of support care, which includes the reimbursement, within a certain framework, of sessions with the psychologist but also with a dietician and an adapted physical activity report (APA). It’s still not enough, but it’s a first step.
From the point of view of treatments, there are many advances, especially for women affected by triple negative breast cancer or cancer at the metastatic stage, which should be welcomed.
What are the latest achievements of the Rose Up association?
Isabelle Huet : We just launched the third Maison Rose Up last June, online this time. This Remote House was for us the way to put e-health solutions within everyone’s reach. We have therefore digitized the workshops, collective and individual, that we offer face-to-face in the other structures.
There are four employees in each of the Rose Up Houses and we have also recruited a project manager. In total, 2,600 women are members and who can access, for this symbolic membership of 30 euros per year, the online content of the new Maison Rose Up.
What are your association’s projects to improve the lives of women with breast cancer?
Isabelle Huet: We are going to enrich the proposals made on the Maison Rose up online, in particular for women affected by metastatic cancer. The return to employment of women is also a very important issue that must be promoted. Today, 73% of women affected by cancer complain of memory loss, regardless of the type of cancer affecting them. It is something common, temporary, but it can be an obstacle to returning to work. This is why cognitive remediation workshops exist, to best manage these side effects of the disease and resume a social life calmly, without breaking the social bond, which notably involves work. Maintaining a professional activity is essential, because the disease is particularly precarious for women, who are often part-time.
One of our other challenges is also to strengthen women’s access to information, because our objective at Rose Up is threefold: to provide information, support and defend the rights of these women. Then, from a health point of view, we must continue to fight to facilitate access to hormone replacement treatments for women whose treatment can induce menopause (or who are in menopause), because this can represent a important burden for her. In addition, there is a difference, vis-à-vis men and their reimbursements, in the context of prostate cancer.
Finally, it is also necessary to reduce the cost of reconstruction, which remains significant for some women, due to the high cost of certain prostheses, for example. We still have a lot of work ahead of us!