Cancer Survivorship Program Published in Hospital Practice Magazine

 Professional staff of SGMC's Pearlman Comprehensive Cancer Center have recently been published as an outgrowth of the development of a local cancer survivorship program.

The article, entitled Toward a Risk-Based Assessment of the Adult Cancer Survivor, Late Effects of Chemotherapy, was published in the January issue of Hospital Practice magazine. In it, the authors, Dr. Samuel Ofori, Medical Oncologist; Mary Ann Heddon, RN, MSN, OCN and Martha Griffis, RN, BSN, OCN discuss the potential late and long-term effects that cancer patients may develop months to years after their initial cancer chemotherapy.

According to Griffis, the article came about because the information that was available on late effects from chemotherapy was incidental and fragmented.  She said, "No one had synthesized the known literature in this detail on the subject and that is what we tried to do here...not create guidelines for practice, but offer concise information about late effects [of chemotherapy] that had been reported.  We are also creating a companion piece for late effects of radiation in conjunction with radiation oncologist, Dr. John Devine."

Heddon hopes this article will serve as a reference piece for hospitalists, internists, and family practice physicians and nurses as they follow cancer survivors. The team is working on creating a model survivorship program to provide much needed structure and services to patients completing treatment.

Before designing the program, Griffis and Heddon gathered important input from all the Pearlman Cancer Center physicians. The nurses then combined this information with education they received at the City of Hope Cancer Center in Durate, California, that is leading the way in professional cancer survivorship education in the United States.

The Pearlman Cancer Survivorship Program in development will address the needs of cancer patients in a community care setting, like Valdosta.  The few survivorship programs that are currently in existence across the U. S. are in larger, academic facilities yet 85% of cancer care occurs in communities like Valdosta.  The survivorship program has many components. Staff and physician education about common survivorship issues has already been completed.  A post-treatment rehabilitative program to help return patients to their pre-treatment functionality will be implemented in conjunction with the Cardiac Rehab Services at SGMC.  This program involves SGMC's Cardiac Rehab team, LaGary Carter, RN, D.A., and Ada Steele, RN, who are developing the exercise component of Cancer Rehab. Griffis and Heddon received $5000 from the Georgia Power Foundation in 2009 to pay for the training of 16 staff who then went on to become certified as Cancer Exercise Specialists.  Additional funds are needed to provide scholarships for patients who wish to undergo cancer rehab.  Anyone wishing to support this program may donate to SGMC Foundation and earmark the funds for Survivorship.

A public education survivorship series began on January 18^th with a lecture on the state of survivorship with an introduction by Dr. Ofori.  This monthly series will educate patients and their families on future health issues, legal, social and spiritual issues that may arise because of previous cancer treatment and encourage cancer survivors to seek attention for these issues. Former patients will be educated on how to stay well post treatment, reduce the risk of recurrence through proper diet and exercise, and learn how to maintain open communication with their primary care physician.  The curriculum for this series was developed by oncology social worker, Lisa Spells, LMSW and Chaplain Carolyn Waters, M.Div. who attended training at the City of Hope in July of 2009.

The idea to begin a cancer survivorship program was born out of need.  As oncology nurses, Griffis and Heddon often heard patients ask the question, "Now that I'm through with treatment, what comes next?" To address that question and others, in 2007, the two nurses submitted a proposal and received an $11,000 grant from the Southwest Georgia Cancer Coalition to develop a cancer survivorship program. Later, they received an additional $5,000 to complete a 'toolkit' that could be shared with the surrounding three cancer centers in our region. 

The Survivorship Education Series runs monthly through June 2010 at SGMC in Dining Room 1 &2.  It is open to the public, cancer survivors, and their family members. Call 333-1610 ext 5 to register or for more information.

For more information about the Cancer Survivorship Program, call the Pearlman Comprehensive Cancer Center at 259-4600.

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