DISCOVERING HANDS
Tactile Breast Examination
All Manual, No Machines
DON'T GIVE BREAST CANCER A CHANCE
CHECK YOUNG, STAY SAFE!
DISCOVERING HANDS - INDIA
NAB India Centre for Blind Women brings “DISCOVERING HANDS” to India and Asia to fight with Breast Cancer. Discovering Hands is an innovative program developed by renowned German gynaecologist Dr. Frank Hoffmann to provide accessible breast screening for women under the age of 50 who are not covered under any preventive screenings.
Discovering Hands train blind and visually impaired women for Tactile Breast Examination to become Medical Tactile Examiners (MTEs), to screen breasts for any lump or abnormalities with their special tactile abilities.
SUPPORTED AND FUNDED BY BAYER
To Book An Appointment Call
+91 92058 50326
The Beginning
“Discovering Hands” program was started in Germany 10 years back with a new innovative method `tactile breast examination (tbe)’ by blind women using their highly sensitive tactile sense; has checked more than 1,20,000 women in Europe till now.
I started this centre with an objective to explore and provide new paradigm and employment platform in India for visually impaired women. We were contacted by Discovering Hands, Germany, in 2015 and they told us about the programme where visually impaired women through a manual check up can detect early signs of breast cancer. Along with Dr Kanchan Kaur, who is the Director at the Breast Services in Mendata- The Medicity, Gurgaon, I went to Germany to thoroughly check this system since we had our doubts about it. However we realized that the blind women were conducting the examination in the same manner as medical professionals, but with more concentration and focus.
- Ms. Shalini Khanna Sodhi,
Director, Discovering Hands India,
Founder Director/ Hon. Secretary
NAB India, Centre for Blind Women & Disability Studies
With this project, Ms. Shalini Khanna, envisioned to create awareness about early detection and prevention of breast cancer and train visually impaired women to earn her dignified livelihood.
Dr. Frank Hoffmann from discovering hands Germany and Ms. Shalini Khanna from NAB India Centre for Blind Women came together to transform “Disabilities into Capabilities”.
EARLY DETECTION CAN SAVE LIVES
India is one of the countries where Breast Cancer is contributing in the increase of female mortality rate. Breast cancer is a nonexistent entity for a majority of population in India till a near and dear one suffers from it.
Healthcare is often low on priority and surprisingly “breast screening” is an alien word for most of the people. According to the doctors, “early screening” is the key to increase the survival rate in India.
The Discovering Hands programme functions on the technique of tactile breast examination(TBE) for screening women breast in order to detect any signs of breast cancer. This methodology, emerges as a viable screening method for early detection of breast cancer which is safe, manual and detailed.
WHAT IS TACTILE BREAST EXAMINATION
Tactile Breast Examination(TBE) is an innovative methodology developed to provide accessible breast screening for women of all age groups. It is a unique program for the blind and visually impaired women wherein they are trained to use their superior sensory touch to detect any abnormalities in the breast and to detect early signs of breast cancer.
Medical Tactile Examiners (MTE) conduct a detailed, safe, repeatable and accurate clinical breast examination without any radiation or side effects.
THE EXAMINATION INCLUDES
- Detailed medical history
- Palpation by different levels of fingers pressure.
- Usage of Braille tapes by the blind examiner on the naked skin.
- 30-40 mins per screening.
- Reports submitted to the doctor.
BLIND SEE MORE!
It is considered by most doctors that blind people have enhanced tactile sense that can detect lumps or abrasions in breast as small as 0.5 cm, which is why they are most eligible for the course.
This program involves training blind women in medical concepts and dealing with patients and doctors. The potential candidates for the program undergo a detailed assessment procedure after being shortlisted during mobilization. Based on the assessment the final list of selected candidates is decided.
The Tactile Breast Examination Training course is for a duration of 9 months which is divided into two components
- Pre-training
- Theoretical and practical training
Five day assessment is conducted prior admission
Shortlisted candidates undergo a 4 day training which focuses on activities like pasting tapes, identifying shapes and sizes, basic information about breast and technique and basic theory based questions.
On the 5th day the candidates are assessed on the grounds of tactile sensitivity, memory retention, communication skills, computer competency and mobility.
6 Months theory and practical training
Post assessment the most eligible candidates are selected to get trained on the unique technique. During this period the women learn about the human and most importantly about the female breast anatomy, cancer and its effect.
They are trained on both theory as well as practical. Applying DOCOS (the colour coordinated Braille strips) tape is an important aspect of the training. Along with medical/clinical training they are also trained on mobility, computer and soft skills like english, communication, grooming etc.
3 Months Clinical Internship At Hospitals
Once the women are trained and aware of the detailed mechanism of tactile breast examination, they are sent for interning at hospitals under specialised doctors or gynaecologist.
It is very important for the women to have an exposure of the real time environment. We have been associated with hospitals like Tata Memorial Hospital, Mumbai and Medanta- the Medicity, Gurgaon , for internship of MTEs.
Placement under Specialised Doctors/ Gynaecologists
Shortlisted candidates undergo a 4 day training which focuses on activities like pasting tapes, identifying shapes and sizes, basic information about breast and technique and basic theory based questions.
On the 5th day the candidates are assessed on the grounds of tactile sensitivity, memory retention, communication skills, computer competency and mobility.
``BLIND SEE MORE``
Dr. Frank Hoffmann - Founder Discovering Hands - Germany
``Find it before it finds you``
Dr. Kanchan Kaur - Director Medanta Breast Services, Medanta - The Medicity, Gurgaon
``Check young stay safe``
Dr. Mandeep Singh Malhotra - HOD Head Neck & Breast Oncoplasty, Fortis Hospital - Vasant Kunj