Roswell Park Seeks Community Support to Gain Patient Services Grant

(Buffalo, NY) Roswell Park Comprehensive Cancer Center is seeking the community’s support to help them gain a $10,000 grant from LIVESTRONG, the cancer advocacy foundation founded by cyclist and cancer survivor Lance Armstrong. The grant would support Roswell Park’s Palliative Care team and enable them to take part in the Joint Commission’s Advanced Certification Program for Palliative Care.

Grant awardees are determined by online votes taking place on the LIVESTRONG Community Impact Project website. Roswell Park’s team is going head-to-head with other organizations across the Northeast to determine who can garner the most votes. Voting closes March 23, 2012 at 6 p.m. EST, so the team is relying on supporters throughout the community to do their part by visiting the site and voting.

Palliative Care is a medical specialty devoted to caring for individuals with serious illness, with the goal of maintaining an optimal quality of life for patients and caregivers. The Palliative Care Team at Roswell Park works with a patient’s attending physician and can join the care process over the continuum of care at any point during illness, including at first diagnosis. The team works with patients and their caregivers to help minimize treatment side effects, manage pain, and deal with the emotional, spiritual, and psychological impacts of their disease, providing the best possible quality of life during cancer survivorship. 

In September 2011, the Joint Commission, the body that accredits and certifies more than 19,000 health care organizations across the United States, launched its Advanced Certification Program for Palliative Care. The new certification is designed to recognize hospital inpatient palliative care teams that demonstrate exceptional patient and family-centered care in order to improve quality of life for patients facing serious illness. Joint Commission certification is recognized nationwide as a symbol of quality. 

If they are awarded the grant from LIVESTRONG, the Roswell Park Palliative Care team will be provided with technical assistance and hands-on mentoring from the Center for Advance Palliative Care (CAPC). The CAPC is a national organization that provides health care professionals with the tools, training, and technical assistance necessary to start and sustain successful palliative care teams in hospitals and other health care settings. This training will help Roswell Park’s Palliative Care team advance and expand their services with the goal of obtaining the Joint Commission’s accreditation and continuing to provide exceptional support to their patients during their cancer journey.

The mission of Roswell Park Comprehensive Cancer Center is to understand, prevent and cure cancer. Roswell Park, founded in 1898, was one of the first cancer centers in the country to be named a National Cancer Institute-designated comprehensive cancer center and remains the only facility with this designation in Upstate New York. The Institute is a member of the prestigious National Comprehensive Cancer Network, an alliance of the nation’s leading cancer centers; maintains affiliate sites; and is a partner in national and international collaborative programs. For more information, visit Roswell Park’s website, call 1-800-ROSWELL (1-800-767-9355) or email AskRoswell@Roswellpark.org.