Cancer Survivorship: From Clinics to Communities, UNC Is There
For many cancer patients, the end of active treatment creates a lot of uncertainty. After long periods of regular treatments and doctor visits, the routine changes. But concerns, challenges and potential health problems remain.
Cancer survivors in North Carolina will now receive wide-ranging post-treatment care. Earlier this year, the Lance Armstrong Foundation (LAF) invited UNC Lineberger Comprehensive Cancer Center to join the LIVESTRONG Survivorship Center of Excellence Network. UNC Lineberger is now one of only eight centers in the nation designed to address the needs of the growing number of cancer survivors.
The LIVESTRONG Survivorship Center of Excellence at UNC Lineberger is charged with developing survivorship programs and services through the NC Cancer Hospital and partnering sites around the state. The Center benefits from the advice and expertise of a large Community Advisory Board made up of cancer survivors and advocates from around the state.
"In the past the focus has almost entirely been on treatment and 'beating' the cancer," explains Marci Campbell, the Center's principal investigator and professor of nutrition at UNC's School of Public Health. "These cancer survivors need services to help them deal with long term health issues including possible late effects of their cancer, and they are concerned about wellness issues such as healthy eating, exercise, weight control and quitting smoking in order to prevent other chronic diseases. They also need psycho-social support and may have concerns about employment, insurance, etc."
Researchers and clinicians will develop clinical survivorship programs for specific cancers at the N.C. Cancer Hospital, as well as education and outreach programs at UNC and its community based centers in Greensboro, Newton Grove, and Wilmington. In addition, the Center of Excellence will share its clinical and outreach programs with colleagues at East Carolina University in Greenville, Rex Hospital in Raleigh, and other interested sites. The team also will work with Walter Shepherd, director of the State of North Carolina Comprehensive Cancer Program in Raleigh, to expand the reach of survivorship programs and education to every region of the state.
Working together, Network members will be able to establish best practices for survivor care. "One of the innovations we hope to bring is experience working with community partners to deliver health services," says Dr. Paul Godley, associate professor of medicine and the Center's co-principal investigator.
The Center also represents a commitment to support cancer patients throughout their cancer journey, not just while they are undergoing treatment. "We are dedicated to helping them through the transition to life after treatment," Godley says.