Life After Diagnosis

by Liv Stecker

“It’s an unfathomable thing, when you see your doctor, and they say that you have cancer…” Jerry Pechin explains the overwhelming effect that life-changing news has on patients who have just been diagnosed. Nearly one out of every two men, and one in every three women will be diagnosed with cancer in the United States at some point in their lives, a staggering statistic for a problem with a name that has long struck terror in our hearts as we watch loves ones struggle and suffer in their final days. The good news now is that less than half of these diagnoses will result in death, as cancer recognition and treatment has grown by leaps and bounds in recent years. The problem in the meantime, is getting the help and support that the cancer patients in our community need, along with the hope that there is help, and compassion, and the knowledge that they are not alone. Enter Jerry Pechin, Julie Dehle and the Cancer Outreach Center, located in the old Mount Carmel Hospital building, just inside the doors where the reception waiting room used to be. For a patient with a new diagnosis, finding a place to come in, sit down, and hear that they are surrounded by people who not only understand, but also can help in very practical ways, is an immeasurable gift.

The Cancer Outreach Center started in 2009 as a cooperative partnership with Mount Carmel and the American Cancer Society as a response to the growing numbers of local patients in cancer treatment that were forced to travel to Spokane, not only for critical medical treatments, but even for any kind of practical support. In addition to providing literature, wigs and prosthesis free of charge to patients, the Outreach Center has several effective programs to make the road to cancer survival just a little bit easier.

One of these programs provides low cost or free lodging for out of town patients who have to be in Spokane for early morning treatments, or back to back appointments, or for those that leave a treatment session in no condition to face a 2-3 hour drive back to the Colville area. In addition to hotels near the hospitals in Spokane who have been tapped to help out, a cancer survivor purchased a four-bedroom house and started an organization called Because There Is Hope, where out of town patients can stay in a handicapped accessible facility with on-site caretakers that are ready to help at the drop of a hat. Through the Cancer Outreach Center in Colville, patients can be set up with this stress-relieving solution in the midst of one of the toughest trials they might face.

In addition to housing, the Cancer Outreach Center provides assistance to local patients in getting low cost prescriptions. This program is not limited to cancer patients, but any low or fixed income area residents that are having difficulty in affording their necessary prescription medicine. Through direct connections to both discount prescription providers and pharmaceutical companies, the Outreach Center can acquire prescriptions at a fraction of the cost for uninsured, or underinsured patients in the area. Information about the Tri-County Prescription Assistance Program is available at the Outreach Center or by calling Ciara at 509-979-4910 or Kelly at 509-981-6420.

Another program that the Cancer Outreach Center offers is called Look Good Feel Better (lookgoodfeelbetter.org), which provides chemotherapy patients with a cosmetic bag full of name brand beauty products, all donated by the leading cosmetic companies, and coaching by a professional cosmetologist to adapt a beauty regime to a sudden and new set of cosmetic needs.  For one survivor who lost all facial hair including her eyebrows during chemo, learning to pamper herself with quality products and celebrity-style application, said that the program “made me feel like I was alive again.”

One of the most effective and practical programs that the Cancer Outreach Center runs is the gas voucher program. Repeated drives to Spokane for treatment add up to a costly fuel bill, especially when gas prices were nearing the $4.00 a gallon range. With the help of Tri-County Health to manage donations and reimbursement, the Outreach Center set up a voucher program where patients can access up to six $25 fuel vouchers at one time to get them to the vital treatments they need. The vouchers are redeemable at several local fueling locations in the Colville area.  When the fund started out with a generous $1000 donation in 2006, and was later augmented by allocated donations through the Relay For Life Program, it met a need that has only grown since. Last fall, the fund was depleted entirely, and for lack of public awareness, local patients were turned away when they requested help with their fuel. With a little bit of publicizing, another major donor stepped up to the plate, along with a steady trickle of small donations, the program was back up and running. While The American Cancer Society can provide help with the Look Good Feel Better campaign, as well as the housing program, the fuel voucher resource is entirely locally driven (pun intended!). Now there is additional fuel help available specifically to breast cancer patients through the Susan J. Komen foundation. To donate, contact Julie or Jerry at the Cancer Outreach Center 509-685-5110, or Melenie at Tri-County Health. All donations must be made out to Tri County Health with a notation for the Cancer Outreach Center Gas Program.

The most important resource that the Cancer Outreach Center provides is the support network for patients and survivors who might have no other help in this stormy season of their life. They offer beautiful donated pillows for patients who need a little extra cushion after the removal of a lump or even a body part, and wigs that can be ordered in any size or style through the ACS “T L C” catalog, along with a variety of books and other resources that might be the one thing to get patients over the hump of cancer survival.

For Jerry and Julie, the only two remaining volunteers in the Outreach Center, getting the word out to new cancer patients through their doctors or loved ones is the vital mission of the Center right now. “Our office exists, we’ve got programs, if you know someone we can help, send them our way!” Jerry says. All too often they have stumbled across a survivor who had no idea the Outreach existed, and some who simply forget in the tidal wave of emotion that a cancer diagnosis rides in on. In addition to reminding care providers to direct patients to the Outreach Center, Jerry hopes that family and friends will have the awareness of the program to direct their loved ones in for help.

The Cancer Outreach Center is open on Tuesdays and Thursdays from 8 AM to 1 PM, and with the help of additional volunteers, could be open more often. Most of the past volunteers have been family members of survivors, or cancer survivors themselves. Several have had to leave the Center due to recurring illness within their own families. Volunteer training with the American Cancer Society takes about 16 hours and is done on-the-job along with an existing volunteer. Shifts for volunteers are flexible and as the Outreach Center becomes more widely broadcast, the need for more open hours will grow. At present the Center is reaching 2-3 patients a month, providing critical resources and access to local and national programs. Jerry expects to see this number grow as health care providers include a referral to the Outreach and the community becomes aware. During the hours that the Outreach Center is not open, the American Cancer Society provides a 24-hour hotline that provides all kinds of support to cancer patients at any time of the day or night, 1-800-ACS-2345.

For more information, you can visit cancer.org, or email the outreach center canceroutreachcenter@providence.org.