Goals and Objectives

We, the Goba Group, have decided to establish a set of five goals to orient our work over fie years.  These goals are:

  1. Promote talking about cancer;
  2. Support community members to make healthy lifestyle choices that reduce their risk of cancer;
  3. Improve cancer screening rates in the community;
  4. Increase the support available to cancer patients, their families, and the whole community;
  5. Promote the importance of holistic health and healing, including traditional medicine and culture.

We will review our progress on a regular basis and set new objectives every year.

Objectives for Fiscal Year 2015-2016

Goal One: Promote talking about cancer

  • Working with the Department of Health and Social Services, hold a cancer terminology workshop to develop English medical terminology into North Slavey and produce a written and audio dictionary with the year.
  • June 7, 2015: the Goba Group will present their strategic plan to Fort Good Hope residents and leadership at a community feast along with the community walk in support of National Cancer Survivors Day.
  • Within 12 months: Create a Goba Group Facebook page that potential partners and supporters for Fort Good Hope, the Sahtu Region, and the Northwest Territories can access to get updates on activities.
  • Within 12 months: Facilitate a cancer sharing circle for the community members monthly with Health Counselor. K’asho Got’ine Wellness Coordinator Melinda Laboucan will organize a monthly cancer sharing circle and the name of this circle will be Tree of Hope. This name was chosen at the cancer sharing circle in June 2012.  The name of the cancer sharing circle can still be changed at any time.

Goal Two: Support community members to make healthy lifestyle choices that reduce their risk of cancer

  • Identify three male champions from Fort Good Hope who an talk about healthy living and share their stories with the whole community.
  • Arrange a meeting between community leadership and grocery store head office managers to discuss increasing the availability of healthy foods and green household cleaning products.  Chief Laboucan will draft a letter to both the head office of Northern and Co-op Stores to bring to their attention that Fort Good Hope established a cancer group called Goba and we will be requesting safer and healthier products for our shelves, along with an increase to our fresh produce.
  • Later years: Deliver presentations to companies and their employees about hazardous materials in the work place.

Goal Three: Improve awareness of the importance of cancer screening

  • Objectives to come in later years.

Goal Four: Increase the support available to cancer patients, their families, and the whole community

  • Create a support group for cancer patients, survivors, caregivers and loved ones that meets on a monthly basis.
  • Within a year, establish a group of five community members to provide on-call, as-needed practical support (medicine delivery, food preparation, etc) for cancer patients at the end of life and their families.
  • Within a year, working with the band council, incorporate spiritual healing activities for cancer survivors and their families into the annual cultural gathering.
  • On an ongoing basis,  support cancer patients and their families to access financial support and fund raise at a community level as needed.
  • On an ongoing basis, advocate for policy change as needed to raise awareness of gaps and barriers that prevent cancer patients and their families from accessing financial support.

Goal Five: Promote the importance of holistic health and healing, including traditional medicine and culture

  • Collaborate with elders to develop traditional medicine kits containing medicines and information that can be made available to all cancer patients by the end of 2015.