Comments on: National Lung Cancer Partnership Launches Campaign to Raise Lung Cancer Awareness Among Women http://news.varadinum.com/national-lung-cancer-partnership-launches-campaign-to-raise-lung-cancer-awareness-among-women.html Your daily news source Thu, 16 Oct 2008 01:46:49 +0000 http://wordpress.org/?v=2.6.2 By: Psiplex http://news.varadinum.com/national-lung-cancer-partnership-launches-campaign-to-raise-lung-cancer-awareness-among-women.html#comment-9 Psiplex Fri, 09 May 2008 09:41:57 +0000 http://news.varadinum.com/?p=50#comment-9 Great post! Currently a patient undergoing treatment for head and neck cancer so this really caught my attention. More needs to happen at the ground level / patient level for funneling some of the campaign and benefit dollars to meet immediate patient needs. Folks with no insurance and no transportation are basically left out in getting chemotherapy and radiation for their cancer. If they can even get into a treatment program, they will still need money to pay rent, get groceries, buy gas, etc. Some patients don't have a car to get to treatment nor the bus fare to get there. Here in Atlanta, GA, there is ONE volunteer driver covering two counties to transport patients to treatment. We have 6 million people in Atlanta with some of the worst traffic in the country. Basically, everyone drives themselves. The freeways are one person/one vehicle rush hour premeditated abuse sessions each day. One volunteer driver for this populace is ridiculous! Why? There is a barrier between all the promotional cancer walks, runs, swims, and fundraisers and the ability for the average cancer survivor to access funds for their own treatment. You have to have a politician in your corner to cut through the red tape or beg a community resource center for a chance to pay ONE utility bill. Calla national cancer agency and you are on hold to get a form mailed to you to submit for consideration (takes 7-14 days). All the while weakness, dizziness, fatigue and nausea grip you trying to battle cancer. What's the answer? Great post! Currently a patient undergoing treatment for head and neck cancer so this really caught my attention. More needs to happen at the ground level / patient level for funneling some of the campaign and benefit dollars to meet immediate patient needs.

Folks with no insurance and no transportation are basically left out in getting chemotherapy and radiation for their cancer. If they can even get into a treatment program, they will still need money to pay rent, get groceries, buy gas, etc. Some patients don’t have a car to get to treatment nor the bus fare to get there. Here in Atlanta, GA, there is ONE volunteer driver covering two counties to transport patients to treatment. We have 6 million people in Atlanta with some of the worst traffic in the country. Basically, everyone drives themselves. The freeways are one person/one vehicle rush hour premeditated abuse sessions each day. One volunteer driver for this populace is ridiculous! Why? There is a barrier between all the promotional cancer walks, runs, swims, and fundraisers and the ability for the average cancer survivor to access funds for their own treatment.

You have to have a politician in your corner to cut through the red tape or beg a community resource center for a chance to pay ONE utility bill. Calla national cancer agency and you are on hold to get a form mailed to you to submit for consideration (takes 7-14 days). All the while weakness, dizziness, fatigue and nausea grip you trying to battle cancer. What’s the answer?

]]>