Ed Smith spoke with Amanda Miller, Director of Programs and Support Services at Cancer Support Community at Gilda’s Club.
-Amanda talked about what she does in her role at Cancer Support Community
-She talked about how they serve over 4,000 people annually dealing with cancer and they provide non-medical support and resources.
-Amanda said they try to provide a very comprehensive and personalized approach for each person that comes to them for services.
-The biggest piece of what they do is providing social and emotional support programs.
-Amanda said they are partnering with medical experts to provide information on various cancer topics and engage in open dialogue regarding treatments.
-Many times they connect members with other resources or partners in the community for additional support.
-Amanda talked about how many times they help fill a gap in support, for example; she is a trained mental health counselor and will provide sessions to members to help them start laying the groundwork to improve their mental health while they wait to get in with a regular mental health care provider.
-They have created a variety of support groups to foster a supportive environment for all people. They now have a veterans support group, LGBTQIA+ support group, prostate cancer and myeloma support groups. They have found that by forming these specific groups, people feel more comfortable and get more out of the sessions.
-Amanda said that social programs are a very important piece of what they do because it creates a stronger sense of community between their members. They have art classes, yoga, cooking classes and a huge variety of activities. She said they are trying to have a variety of expressive art programs to foster mental well being. They also see great benefits for members that participate in some of their healthy lifestyle programs like exercise, mediation or music programs because it gives people a distraction and reduces stress.
-All programs are free of charge to anyone dealing with cancer and their family members or caregivers.
-Amanda says they are focused on continuing to do community outreach and connecting with minority groups in our community so they know that these services are available.
-They are providing free colon cancer screening kites and will be doing a big promotion in March.
-Amanda said nutrition has become a new focus for them as they realized that over 55% of their members are struggling to put food on the table while undergoing treatment for cancer. This is due to the financial and time constraints that occur.
-Cancer Support Community is offering 9 food programs monthly to their members and they want to double that this year. They provide ready to go meals that are healthy and they offer cooking/nutrition classes.
-Amanda said they just started an emergency food assistance program for their members.