Emotional Support

> 2007 Participants
> 2006 Participants
> 2005 Participants

2007 Participants

California Health Foundation and Trust
$24,984 for one year
“Training Volunteers in Emotional Support of Chinese Cancer Survivors”
This project will enhance the emotional support available to Chinese cancer survivors by strengthening the volunteer support system for cancer survivors in the Greater San Francisco Bay Area. It will target first generation Chinese who are in advanced stages of cancer and will focus on the emotional support given by volunteer and family caregivers who speak their native languages. The goal of this project is to provide volunteers and family members who care for Chinese-speaking cancer survivors with the information, skills and resources needed to provide emotional support to survivors with advanced stages of cancer. This project will develop, test and disseminate a curriculum for lay caregivers and will collaborate with many Bay Area Chinese community centered organizations.

Gilda's Club Quad Cities
$49,991 for two years
“Iowa Cancer MAPS (Mentors Assisting & Preparing Survivors)”
The number of cancer survivors in Iowa is growing and the Gilda’s Club Quad Cities pilot project will offer an individualized peer mentorship program for cancer survivors and/or their loved ones’ who are searching for psychosocial support that fits their needs. This project is a result of a previously funded LAF grant to the Iowa Consortium for Comprehensive Cancer Control (I4C) and was developed after input from survivor participants. This project will match people who are not connected with existing services and try to meet their needs for psychosocial support by matching up to 50 mentors and 50 mentees in two pilot communities in Iowa. There are multiple cancer community partners involved in this project and is a statewide effort to help cancer survivors navigate their way through unfamiliar terrain of life after cancer.

The Minnie Pearl Cancer Foundation
$44,336 for two years
“Life Coaching For Living Beyond Cancer”
LAF funding will establish this unique Life Coaching program where no other targeted, free individualized life coaching programs serve both urban and rural cancer survivor communities. The goal of this program is to empower survivors with self-advocacy skills as they redirect their life priorities after a cancer diagnosis. Specific objectives for this project include designing and implementing a program for free life coaching for cancer survivors; increase awareness about life coaching as a tool for cancer survivors, train practicing life coaches about the unique issues around survivorship and to evaluate the effectiveness of the program. This program is a cost effective cancer survivor support program that allows survivors to use self-advocacy to set and attain life goals during and beyond their cancer diagnosis.

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2006 Participants

The Nebraska Indian Community College (2006)
$10,000 grant over one year
Currently the Omaha and Santee Sioux Native American communities are not being served in the area of cancer survivorship.  The Nebraska Indian Community College is using LAF funding to develop a strategic plan for cancer survivorship for the underserved Omaha and Santee tribes and to create collaborations between the tribal community and regional organizations. In addition, holding community dinners for tribal community members will be a culturally appropriate and effective way to increase awareness of cancer survivorship issues.

Nueva Vida (2006)
$10,000 grant over one year
www.nueva-vida.org
While Nueva Vida has been providing culturally sensitive cancer support services to Latinas in the Washington, D.C. area for over 10 years, the organization has identified a need to increase services for Latina breast cancer survivors in the Miami, Florida area. The LAF is working with Nueva Vida to diminish psychological distress of immigrant underserved and/or uninsured Latinas diagnosed with breast cancer in Miami and to promote their quality of life and adherence to treatment. This project will include a needs assessment of the Miami Latino population, focus groups and planning for a culturally competent team to provide quality services for the community.

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2005 Participants

Virtual Community for Immigrants with Cancer
Center for Immigrant Health, New York University School of Medicine - New York, New York
www.med.nyu.edu/cih
The Center for Immigrant Health (CIH) was founded in 1990 to bridge immigrants and the healthcare system. Through research, outreach, education and program development, CIH reaches more than 5,000 immigrants each year.  The Virtual Community for Immigrants with Cancer (VCIC) has been developed as a pilot project to advance immigrants' ability to cope with cancer. VCIC provides informational, emotional and social support to Spanish-speaking women with breast cancer through online support groups. Since 2003, they have been recruiting participants and providing computers, internet connections and at-home training for them. With the data collection concluded, the grant will fund the data analysis and evaluation of the pilot program. VCIC hopes to improve the participants' attitudes and beliefs about their illness, improve quality of life and decrease levels of depression.

Men's Support Program
Circulo de Vida Cancer Support and Resource Center - San Francisco, California
www.circulodevida.org
Founded in 2000, the Círculo de Vida Cancer Support and Resource Center (CDV) provides psychosocial support for Latinos with cancer in the San Francisco Bay Area. Their mission is to improve the quality and longevity of the lives of Latino survivors and reduce the devastating effects of cancer diagnosis. The program provides Latinos with the tools and support to help them navigate a complex medical system and the challenges of being diagnosed with cancer. Based in San Francisco's Latino Mission District, CDV serves a population that faces multiple barriers to adequate care, such as poverty, lack of heath insurance, and cultural and linguistic barriers to information and resources. This program will provide in-clinic translators to help patients understand their diagnosis and treatment, home and hospital visits and counseling to those experiencing acute psychological impacts. CDV will also conduct bi-weekly peer groups and 12-week educational seminars to train hospital oncology staff on culturally sensitive health issues and referrals. 

Survivor Mentor Program and Workshop Series
Delaware Breast Cancer Coalition, Inc. - Wilmington, Delaware
www.debreastcancer.org
The Delaware Breast Cancer Coalition, Inc. (DBCC), established by a small group of volunteers in 1991, has grown into a statewide agency that serves the medically underserved communities in Delaware. The mission of the agency is to empower the community and facilitate early detection and treatment of breast cancer by raising awareness of breast health issues through outreach, education and support services. The Survivor Mentor Program and Workshop Series serves cancer survivors in Delaware, including young women with breast cancer as well as their families, friends and caregivers. The program provides peer support and educational materials for newly diagnosed cancer patients, those facing a recurrence and/or metastasis, long-term survivors and their families. The program includes workshops that address survivorship issues and practical concerns. Through these workshops, individuals will be able to share their concerns, receive information and advice, and build relationships with other people who have been affected by cancer. 

Transportation Assistance Program (TAP)
Emilio Nares Foundation - San Diego, California
www.emilionaresfoundation.org
The mission of the Emilio Nares Foundation (ENF) is to secure the best possible treatment and highest quality of life for children and underserved minorities affected by cancer.  ENF provides financial, emotional and logistical support to patients and their families to improve their access to cancer care systems and hospitals within the community.  The program will provide transportation services to families whose children are receiving treatment for cancer at the Children's Hospital of San Diego.  ENF plans to expand this service to other hospital units serving cancer patients, including cardiology, rehabilitation and speech and hearing. 

Palliative Care Project
Henry W. Grady Health System Foundation - Atlanta, Georgia
www.hwgf.org
The mission of the Georgia Cancer Center for Excellence (GCCE) of Grady Health System is the reduction of healthcare disparities through improved access to state-of-the-art cancer care. The Palliative Care Project furthers this mission by providing outpatient palliative care services to cancer patients who have uncontrolled symptoms or are in need of end-of-life care. Through the project, a core team of culturally competent and palliative care trained physicians, nurses, social workers and chaplains will work with underserved populations in out-patient clinics to provide multidisciplinary patient and family assessments as well as develop goals that address the medical, psychosocial and spiritual issues in a culturally appropriate context. The goals of the project include reducing health disparities among African-American cancer patients, increasing quality of life, improving patient-provider communications, increasing knowledge of options for care, reducing caregiver burdens and assisting in development of outpatient palliative care programs in underserved communities.

The Short-Term Care Program
Interfaith Care Alliance - Austin, Texas
www.interfaithcarealliance.org
Interfaith Care Alliance provides compassionate, practical and emotional support for people with serious illnesses and their loved ones.  The Short-term Care Program provides cancer survivors support with daily activities such as housekeeping, laundry, yard work, childcare, preparing meals, running errands, and transportation to medical appointments, support groups or pharmacies. The program's pilot project was created in 2004 in response to requests from clients recovering from chemotherapy or surgery.  This short-term care helps to prevent long-term problems for cancer patients and their families who may have otherwise has difficulty caring for a loved one.

Teen Songwriting Workshops
Pickleberry Pie, Inc. - Santa Cruz, California
www.childrensmusic.org
Pickleberry Pie, Inc. uses the healing power of music and personal contact to improve the lives of children and teens. The organizations Teen Songwriting Workshops will address the needs of an often-overlooked population - teens living with cancer in metropolitan areas. The workshops will provide teens in Los Angeles, Oakland and Nashville with a safe outlet to create vehicles for expression by establishing a pilot program that pairs teens living with cancer with songwriting mentors. The pilot program will document the workshops and study how the guided songwriting process can be used to alleviate some of the psychosocial stresses of living with cancer.

Support Team Initiative
Project Compassion - Chapel Hill, North Carolina
www.project-compassion.org
Project Compassion provides support to a community of people facing illness, care giving, end-of-life and grief.  Through the Support Team Initiative, support teams will provide practical, emotional and spiritual support for children, teens and families affected by cancer who need help with care giving. Using a team approach, volunteers will offer assistance with basic needs, including friendly visits, transportation, meal preparation, coordinated care-giving and increased community connection.

"Still Life": A Documentary Photography Project
The Creative Center, Inc. - Manhattan, New York
www.thecreativecenter.org
The Creative Center: Arts for People with Cancer is a nonprofit organization that brings the world of art to the cancer community free-of-charge.  Building on the survivor profiles on livestrong.org, the Creative Center provides cancer survivors with the necessary tools and skills to advocate for themselves by photographing their lives as survivors. Cameras and photography classes are provided to survivors to teach them the art and craft of documentary digital photography. These classes teach the survivors both historical and contemporary techniques to shoot and edit photos to maximize the impact on healthcare professionals and policy makers. The program helps cancer survivors see themselves and the situations they encounter in new ways.  By photographing all aspects of life, from the mundane to the pivotal, participants have the opportunity to reflect on and challenge their experiences as survivors. The photos will be published in a book-Still Life: A Year in the Life of Cancer Survivors, which will be distributed to medical schools, healthcare organizations, policy makers and advocacy groups to be used as an educational tool focusing on the real-life issues surrounding survivorship.

Pink Alive!
The Pink Ribbons Project/Dancers in Motion Against Breast Cancer - Houston, Texas
www.pinkribbons.org
Determined to do something to help her 30-year-old sister during her battle with breast cancer, Jane Weiner joined with three other New York dancers to create the Pink Ribbons Project (PRP), the first dance initiative in the United States dedicated to raising funds and awareness for breast cancer.  Pink Alive! will help breast cancer survivors manage stress and celebrate life through physical expression and journaling. The program is designed to teach participants how to combine chest, back and neck exercises to stretch and strengthen tight muscles and scar tissue following neck, throat or breast surgery. It will also teach participants how to identify and prevent lymphedema, strengthen muscles to combat biological effects of radiation therapy and manage psychological stress through alternative exercises. A licensed social worker will facilitate the program, which will begin with journaling, followed by restorative yoga, healthy cooking, Feldenkreis® and Gyrotonic® rehabilitation therapy, tai chi, origami and drumming. After the program ends, participants will be encouraged to continue these strategies to regain and maintain control of their lives. 

Congregational Advocates Reaching and Empowering Survivors
University of Alabama at Birmingham School of Public Health - Birmingham, Alabama
http://www.soph.uab.edu/cchrd.asp?ID=88
Congregational Advocates Reaching and Empowering Survivors (CARES), partners with Congregations for Public Health (CPH), a nonprofit organization consisting of six African-American churches in Birmingham's oldest and poorest communities, to target underserved minority populations in the area. CARES educates, empowers and supports cancer survivors, families and caregivers by implementing a formal curriculum to train health ministry advocates about a comprehensive range of cancer survivorship issues based on community and academic research. Other objectives include training volunteers to identify and develop partnerships with the cancer community, exploring methods to enhance education of local healthcare professionals about survivorship issues and pursuing resources for sustainability and replication of the program in rural areas.    

Mid-Missouri Lung Cancer Support Group at University of Missouri-Columbia Ellis Fischel Cancer Center
University of Missouri-Columbia - Columbia, Missouri
www.missouri.edu
The University of Missouri-Columbia Ellis Fischel Cancer Center is a centrally located care, research and education facility where lung cancer survivors from across the state are served by a staff of lung cancer specialists. The support group will serve a critical, unmet need for lung cancer survivors in Missouri and is open to anyone regardless of their stage of cancer. Meetings will be guided by proven lung cancer support group methods, but specific topics will be determined largely by the needs of members. The University's role will be to identify members' needs, facilitate interaction and deliver relevant information by tapping into the resources available within the Universoty's academic units and surrounding communities. Funding from the LAF will provide a new, centrally located lung cancer specific support group. It will also provide information that will help to improve the overall experience and quality of life as well as decrease the risk for development of secondary cancers or recurrence of cancer. The information provided will help empower the participants to deal with the physical, psychological, social, spiritual and financial ways lung cancer impacts their lives.

Free Skin Screenings for Previously Diagnosed Skin Cancer Patients Facing Economic and Insurance Barriers to Follow-up Care
William S. Graham Foundation for Melanoma Research, Inc. - Hayward, California
www.bfmelanoma.com
The mission of the William S. Graham Foundation for Melanoma Research, Inc., is to raise research funds, educate the public about the causes and prevention of melanoma through public awareness programs, and assist in the early detection of melanoma. LAF funding will help to provide skin cancer survivors, especially Latino migrant farm workers facing insurance barriers, with follow-up appointments at no cost in order to prevent new occurrences from going undiagnosed and untreated. The program utilizes three "Mole Patrol" cancer screenings in California Beach communities to increase participation of previously diagnosed skin cancer patients who cannot afford clinically recommended follow-ups. Screenings, which are sanctioned by the American Academy of Dermatology, are performed by board-certified dermatologists.  Results of the findings are explained if there is a biopsy or a referral requested. 

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