The History of the South Canterbury Mammography Services Trust

The South Canterbury Mammography Services Trust began delivering breast screening and diagnostic services to women in 1989.

Without the Trust's vision and early recognition of the benefits of mammography - the best method of early breast cancer detection - there would not have been a mammography unit in Timaru, putting the health and lives of untold numbers of women in jeopardy.

Story of a remarkable woman

Waveney Richmond was a young Mum living in Otaio. In 1981, she noticed a lump in her breast while breastfeeding her 7th child. She at first thought it was a swollen milk duct, as at only 35 years of age and currently breastfeeding, it never occurred to her that she would be a candidate for breast cancer. Luckily, she went to her doctor, who acted promptly, and that set off a treatment journey that lasted 5 years. This included every test under the sun (diagnostic mammography & other scans), a Mastectomy, Chemotherapy and eventually a Reconstruction. But this really wasn’t enough for Waveney, what her grandparents and great-grandparents died of was never discussed (that was the times), and when she looked back at her family history, her own grandmother died when her father was just 5; she had no idea of the cause but suspects it may have been breast cancer.

She spent time researching and found Mammography and believed this should be available in South Canterbury. Mammography was being used globally more diagnostically, but the UK at that time was pioneering breast screening. Waveney approached the District Health Board to get funding for a mammography unit and was declined, stating she needed support from a medical professional; here she turned to her GP, Mary McSherry, and together they petitioned the SCDHB. The DHB were not in a position to fund it but were supportive and so began a small committee and a massive fundraising campaign.

They estimated they would need to raise $170,000, which in today’s dollars would be well north of $1M. This fundraising was not the fundraising campaigns we see today. This was good old-school fundraising: selling raffle tickets outside farmers, bake sales, the Lions came on board with a phone campaign, they received $10,000 from the Smithfield and Pareora Meat Works and donations from community trusts and plenty of individual donations.

In just 18 months they had raised $172,262, enough to establish the unit.

This unit, the “Richmond Mammography Unit”, opened in the Old Nursing Home on 3 March 1990, by Timaru MP Maurice McTigue. Remarkably, New Zealand’s first breast screening service. At this time in New Zealand, we only had a diagnostic service in the main centres, which ultimately means delayed detection. Back in 1990, using mammography for screening women was said to have potentially halved the death rate, so this was a huge thing for South Canterbury.

It wasn’t until 1998 that BreastScreen Aotearoa was launched nationally, South Canterbury Mammography Trust being one of the first to take up a subcontract with Canterbury BreastCare, beginning the nationally funded programme in 1999. This meant we had been providing breast screening services in South Canterbury for nearly 10 years before there was a funded screening programme, quite remarkable and all because one women chose not to sit back and take the cards she was dealt, but researching, campaigning and fundraising to make sure future women could be screened to find smaller, less aggressive cancers that are not detectable to touch and help increase survival rates.

In April 2018, the Trust sold its mammography unit business to Pacific Radiology Group to better focus on helping South Canterbury women who are experiencing financial hardship after their breast cancer diagnosis.

Since 2019, the Trust has been providing extended breast screening for women beyond age 69. We will continue to fund these screens until the roll-out of the expansion of BreastScreen Aotearoa is complete.

Beyond screening, the Trust offers significant support to those affected by breast cancer. We distribute welfare grants to individuals in financial need due to their diagnosis.

Additionally, the Trust has funded gene expression profiling tests through Oncotype DX for eligible women. These tests, costing around A$5,000, offer personalised insights to help determine whether chemotherapy is needed alongside anti-oestrogen therapy, potentially avoiding unnecessary treatment.

It goes without saying that we couldn’t offer these initiatives to our women without your support. Please consider donating to the South Canterbury Mammography Services Trust if you are able. Every dollar counts!