What is the Teal Support Program?
The Teal Support Program is a free telehealth outreach program supporting women with ovarian cancer throughout their diagnosis, treatment and beyond. The main aim of the program is to provide continuity of care when they are not regularly seeing their treating team to focus on areas of care where there are unmet needs.
Click here to download a digital version of the Teal Support Brochure.
Download the brochure
The Teal Support Program is the embodiment of Ovarian Cancer Australia’s vision that no woman with ovarian cancer walks alone.
How does it work?
The program works collaboratively with treating institutions to support the activities of clinicians whilst looking for gaps in care and addressing areas where there are unmet needs.
It is a consistent point of reference for the women and their carers, providing support and triaging problems and checking back in with the local team on decision making, making appropriate referrals as needed.
The ovarian cancer nurses will regularly update the team on progress with women and discuss with the local team issues that require a decision on intervention.
Decision making always remains with the local treating team.
The Teal Support Program utilises a tele-health model, there is no face to face service.
This is particularly useful in rural and regional areas that may not have access to as many resources as metropolitan hospitals.
Remote access to services is essential given the incidence of ovarian cancer across the vast geographical spread of Australia.
The Teal Support Program is particularly suited to women with ovarian cancer due to the complex, challenging nature of the disease (rare cancer, low survival rate, high recurrence rate and the resulting sense of isolation, anxiety/depression, and fear of recurrence).
Who are the Teal Support Program team?
The service is delivered by trained oncology/ gynae nurses with at least five years of experience in caring for women with ovarian cancer.
It is expected that we will have capacity to support over 400 women living with ovarian cancer over the 3 years this program will run.
The team has access to a counsellor and social worker to refer to, if needed.
The service will be available from Monday to Friday from 9 am to 5 pm AEST.
How can women access The Teal Support Program?
Clinicians can identify women who they believe will require more care. Any woman can be referred at any point in their journey.
Referral time points that work well are at MDT review, prior to completing active treatment or clinical trials.
Clinicians can ask women if they want to participate in OCA’s Teal Support Program and are willing to pass on their contact details to us.
The clinician can then simply email the woman’s details to care@ovariancancer.net.au or phone 1300 660 334. We will then contact them. Women can also self-refer to the program.
For further information and support about the Teal Support Program, please contact an ovarian cancer nurse on 1300 660 334, email care@ovariancancer.net.au or fill out the form below.
To order our Teal Support Brochure or Poster, visit our shop for a hard copy or download a digital copy.
If you are a woman living with ovarian cancer that is interested in this program, please fill our form.
The Teal Support Program fills many gaps in the services currently available to women living with ovarian cancer.
Dr Deborah Neesham, Gynecological Oncologist
Call 1300 660 334Email us