BRIDGEPORT, W. Va. — The Cecil B. Highland, Jr., and Barbara B. Highland Cancer Center at United Hospital Center is playing host to a three-day series “It’s All About You,” where those diagnosed with cancer can learn about services available to them.
“There are more than 13 million patients across the United States that have been diagnosed with cancer that are living today,” Linda Cart, Director of Cancer Services at UHC said. “We’re here to provide those resources to patients so that their quality of life is the best that it can be and people can go back to their life that they had prior to their diagnosis.”
Among the programs highlighted is the Survivorship Training and Rehab, or STAR Program.
Developed by a Harvard Medical School doctor who was a cancer survivor herself, the program is a unique in the state, currently. It works to help minimize the side effects which come with cancer treatment through coordinated rehabilitation.
“A lot of what we do is have a specialized focus group to increase your activity tolerance to complete everyday tasks,” Ginny Vincent, and Occupational Therapist with United Rehab said. “We focus on strength, range of motion, we can address swallowing, cognition. ‘Chemo brain’ is a common thing where people feel like they have fuzzy thinking or innability to recall things. Something as simple as what their phone number is or their daily regimine.”
Another resource offered to patients diagnosed with breast cancer is the Breast Health Navigator program, which stems from the Commission on Cancer’s goal of implementing similar programs for the five major cancers before 2015.
Clinical Navigator Peggy Johnson said she begins working with patients from the time of an abnormal mamogram to the end of treatment, available and in contact so no one slips through the cracks.
“The whole person of this program is so no one is alone that is facing breast cancer,” she said. “We are eventually going to have navigators for the top five cancer diagnosis because we at UHC do not want any cancer patient to go through this alone.”
Other tools to improve the quality of life are available to patients, such as free recipies for healthy foods suggested after diagnosis.
Becky Foster, a licenced dietitian at the hospital said the right diet can make a difference for patients.
“For example, if you know you’re going to have a treatment the next day, then you want to try to make sure that the day before you try to eat as well as you can because you know you may not feel like eating very well,” she said. “Eating as well as you can means eating really healthy things and gearing up for the fact that tomorrow might not be such a good day.”
Foster said removing junk foods and replacing them with fruits, vegtables and whole grains is a key to an improved diet.
A new resource aimed at improving the quality of life being offered at no charge teaches Tai Chi to patients.
“Pain doesn’t have to be but sometimes is a component after the diagnosis of cancer and Tai Chi has the potential to be combined with other traditional methods to meet the needs of patients dealing with those kinds of things. Whether it’s pain, whether it’s stress reduction,” Cart said.
All resources and programs available to cancer patients at UHC can be found at uhcwv.org.
The “It’s All About You” series continues on Thursday and Friday from 11 a.m. to noon outside of the cancer center.