Summary
A growing number of training programs are available for healthcare workers and patient advocates to assist them in guiding people diagnosed with cancer, cope with their disease. New cancer patients can face a bewildering variety of choices, and can also find themselves without ongoing support as they pass into remission. Cancer navigators, or CancerGuides, are trained to support patients at each step in the process, as well as introduce them to supportive treatments that can aid in healing.
Original source:
http://www.marinij.com/Stories/0,1413,234~24409~2724388,00.html
Details
Hearing the words "you've got cancer" is like blithely crossing the street and then getting slammed by a Mack truck - there's no way to prepare for it.
"Getting a cancer diagnosis is not like being pregnant - a happy event, go get a massage," says Cindy Cantril, breast program coordinator at Marin General Hospital in Greenbrae.
A navigator is someone who takes a cancer patient in hand from the initial diagnosis and supports the patient through treatment, recovery and during the journey back to health - all the while pointing to options and offering guidance on the overwhelming array of life-altering decisions.
Gordon, chair of the White House Commission on Complementary and Alternative Medicine Policy, formerly was head of the National Institutes of Health alternative and complementary medicine program.
"Virtually everyone with cancer wants to know which complementary and alternative therapies to use," Gordon said in a recent interview.
"They want to know where to go to find them, and how to put together a program of truly integrative, effective and humane care."
The goal of CancerGuides, Gordon added, is to train oncology and other health professionals and patient advocates to "help all Americans with cancer and their families to do just that."
"The treatment is just so focused on the tumor itself, not the whole person," said Walston, 31, who is signed up for the March CancerGuides training.
The training will not only explain the phases of cancer, but will try to have participants feel what it must be like to experience them: the shock of diagnosis; the puzzle of integrating conventional and complementary care; dealing with side effects of treatment or with recurrences, or facing the issue of death and dying.
About the author: Mike Adams is an award-winning journalist and holistic nutritionist with a strong interest in personal health, the environment and the power of nature to help us all heal He has authored and published thousands of articles, interviews, consumers guides, and books on topics like health and the environment, and he has created several downloadable courses on survival and preparedness, including his widely-downloaded course on personal safety and self-defense. Adams is an honest, independent journalist and accepts no money or commissions on the third-party products he writes about or the companies he promotes. In mid 2010, Adams produced TV.NaturalNews.com, a natural health video sharing website offering user-generated videos on nutrition, green living, fitness and more. He also launched an online retailer of environmentally-friendly products (BetterLifeGoods.com) and uses a portion of its profits to help fund non-profit endeavors. He's also the CEO of a highly successful email newsletter software company that develops software used to send permission email campaigns to subscribers. Adams volunteers his time to serve as the executive director of the Consumer Wellness Center, a 501(c)3 non-profit organization, and practices nature photography, Capoeira, martial arts and organic gardening. He's also author of numerous health books published by Truth Publishing and is the creator of several consumer-oriented grassroots campaigns, including the Spam. Don't Buy It! campaign, and the free downloadable Honest Food Guide. He also created the free reference sites HerbReference.com and HealingFoodReference.com. Adams believes in free speech, free access to nutritional supplements and the ending of corporate control over medicines, genes and seeds. Known by his callsign, the 'Health Ranger,' Adams posts his missions statements, health statistics and health photos at www.HealthRanger.org
Have comments on this article? Post them here:
people have commented on this article.
Sunday, March 06, 2005
Email this article to a friend
Share
this article on: 
