At CancerCare, we believe that the more a person
understands about his or her diagnosis—such as learning new terminology
and aspects of treatment—the better he or she will be able to
communicate with their health care team. Feelings are also important.
Understanding and respecting one's emotions, and perhaps being able to
share them with other people with lung cancer, can help a person get
through treatment and improve the quality of life.
"Being
diagnosed with lung cancer pushes both patients and those who care for
them into a strange and sometimes frightening new environment, and they
really don't know what to do to get some control over a very difficult
change in their lives," observes Win Boerckel, CancerCare's
National Lung Cancer Program Coordinator. "Our staff of professionally
trained oncology social workers are here to assist them in navigating
their diagnosis and treatment with answers, advice and, always,
continuing support."
All CancerCare programs—including
professional counseling, education, financial assistance and practical
help—are provided by trained oncology social workers and are completely
free of charge. Our free services include:
- Counseling — By a staff of more than 50 professional oncology social workers in
various settings -- one-on-one, face-to-face, or over the telephone
counseling; in-person and online support groups; and family counseling
through our CancerCare for Kids program to help people with lung
cancer and their loved ones cope with the emotional and practical
challenges of a lung cancer diagnosis.
- Education —
Booklets and factsheets on a variety of cancer-related topics,
Telephone Education Workshops and resources, all available at our
websites, www.lungcancer.org and www.cancercare.org.
- Financial Support — To those who qualify, to help with costs associated with treatment,
such as transportation, side effects medications, and child care.
CancerCare Lung Cancer Program Activities in the 2009 Fiscal Year
In the 2009 Fiscal Year, CancerCare assisted over 7,500 lung cancer patients, or those who care for them,
through individual counseling, group counseling, resource referrals,
educational programs and financial assistance grants.
Over
$421,000.00 was distributed to 2,845 lung cancer patients in financial
assistance grants to help defray the costs of transportation, home
assistance and child care assistance during treatment.
In July, the Long Island Office celebrated the 11th
anniversary of its continuous, weekly face to face Lung Cancer Patient
Support Group. CancerCare offered similar groups for lung cancer
patient in both telephone and online formats throughout the year,
across the nation.
November 1, 2008 witnessed the one year anniversary of the relaunch of CancerCare’s popular website www.lungcancer.org.
The site drawing more than 312,000 hits in the 2009 Fiscal Year,
presents a user-friendly image and a "first stop" for those who find
themselves facing all of the practical and psychosocial issues that a
lung cancer diagnosis brings into their lives.
During the 2009 Fiscal Year, CancerCare presented three important Telephone Education Workshops, A Medical Update on Lung Cancer, Updates and Treatment Decisions About Lung Cancer and Progress in the Treatment of Lung Cancer: Report From the 2005 ASCO Conference. Archived replays of each conference can be replayed or downloaded to an MP3 player from CancerCare’s website, www.cancercare.org.
Over
the course of the 2009 Fiscal Year, CancerCare shipped out over 20,000
pieces of its popular CancerCare Connect booklets and fact sheets with
titles such as, Coping With Lung Cancer, Caring for Your Bones When You Have Lung Cancer, Lung Cancer Treatment Update and Cancer pulmonar: Sus opciones en tratamiento.