An eight-week exercise pilot program for post-operative breast cancer patients at Mater Private Hospital Redland (MPHRd) has been so successful there is a waiting list for future courses. 

Run by Mater Cancer Care Centre Redland (MCCCR) Nurse Unit Manager Keila Slater and her team, the program is backed by research that shows exercise during chemotherapy can help manage side effects, especially fatigue. 

Funded by community donations to Mater Foundation, the Return to Wellness program involves tailored exercise, diet and lifestyle guidelines to improve the health and wellbeing of patients during treatment. 

Ms Slater said her role at MCCCR is to serve as a link between patients and their families, medical oncologists and a suite of holistic health solutions. 

“What we do is designed to keep cancer patients’ quality of life and chance of survival as high as possible post operation,” Ms Slater said. 

"The Return to Wellness program involves two exercise physiologists who come to our gym and rehabilitation unit to take the ladies through individually tailored programs designed to improve their health and wellbeing during chemo.” 

Ms Slater said she had seen the program’s benefits extend beyond the physical. 

“We’ve seen patients connecting with each other as they’re going through Return to Wellness together,” she said. 

“Also, with the cost covered by the Mater Foundation, they know they can take advantage of the program without any added financial pressure during chemotherapy, which can be expensive.” 

Ms Slater said the program’s first cohort would continue with the exercise physiologists at their local Redland gym to help embed good habits. 

“Our breast cancer patients are busy women, just like the rest of us,” she said. 

“The advice we give them as they go home is something women, including myself, don’t always take. 

“They must put themselves first sometimes, even for a day a week or an hour each day. Their lives just might depend on it.” 

Thanks to the success of the first program, Ms Slater said, the centre’s second Return to Wellness program will continue to run this year.