Cancer Survivorship Program Addresses Patients’ Long-Term Needs
It had been a year since Holly Sobota had completed treatment for breast cancer and was given a clean bill of health. Even so, Sobota continued to deal with the emotional and physical challenges cancer leaves with its victims such as fear of recurrence, physical and medical long-term side effects and learning how to return to a normal life again.
The fact is, successful cancer care does not end upon completion of treatment. When active treatment ends, the special needs of cancer patients may be just beginning.
To help provide a transition for these patients, The Nebraska Medical Center offers a cancer survivorship program. Deb Darrington, MD, internal medicine specialist at The Nebraska Medical Center, is director of the program and oversees a primary care clinic to provide medical care to meet the special needs of cancer survivors.
Depending on the length and type of treatment, many patients must deal with the lingering health effects that some cancer treatments can cause, notes Dr. Darrington. “Our goal is to aid in the transition after treatment - to provide support and serve as a point of care before the patient returns to their primary care doctor,” says Dr. Darrington.
“It was really good to talk to people who understood what I was going through and could affirm that the things I was experiencing were normal and were things that all survivors experience,” says Sobota.
Another component of the program involves a multi-disciplinary clinic that is offered twice monthly at Clarkson West Medical Center. The Breast Cancer Survivorship Clinic is available to breast cancer survivors who are cancer-free and have completed therapy. The patient is seen by a multi-disciplinary group of clinicians who develop a “survivorship care plan” based on the patient’s special medical, physical and nutritional needs. This plan serves as the patient’s long-term care plan to share with their primary care physician and addresses long-term medical issues like diabetes, heart disease, blood cholesterol and bone mass.
“Because we specialize in seeing cancer patients, we are in better tune to their unique needs and long-term medical problems and these patients really appreciate that,” says Dr. Darrington. “We are the bridge that will ensure their needs are met long after treatment has ended.”