CanCare Navigation Program
CanCare’s Navigators ‘walk beside’ a person with cancer, helping them get the right support after a cancer diagnosis, at the time they need it most.
The CanCare Navigator provides practical, one-to-one support, such as
- Providing regular contact and practical help
- Filling out complex medical forms
- Finding transport to or from treatment
- Arranging child care, elderly care, or pet care during treatment
- Organising social outings and connecting to support groups
- ‘Checking-in’, to make sure everything is OK
The Foundation’s work on patient navigation is based on the ground-breaking work of Dr Harold Freeman at Harlem Hospital, New York in 1990. In recent years research of the social, psychological and medical impact has validated the importance of patients being provided with quality supportive care, during and after treatment and the importance of addressing unmet social needs in delivering better health outcomes.
CanCare Navigators
After a cancer diagnosis, the normal routine and life of a person is often disrupted by such a life changing event. Advances in cancer treatment means there are often many treatments and a variety of specialists involved.
A CanCare Navigator is a trained volunteer who “walks beside” a person with cancer, providing one-on-one, non-medical, community based support. Our Navigators have regular contact face to face, over the phone or by Skype, and can provide support as long as they are required.
Volunteer navigators can help to:
- access information and community services
- complete complex medical forms
- find transportation to and from treatment
- arrange child care while a parent receives care,
- organise or take a person on social outings
- encourage regular contact with their GP
- alert hospital staff to any concerns
- just be there when a person needs a friend.
There is evidence that patients who are well supported and have their needs addressed experience lower rates of anxiety, mood disorder, nausea, vomiting and pain, and know more about the disease and the treatment options.
Call :02 8058 9060
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