BUFFALO, NY — Looking to expand the reach of its care beyond the hospital’s walls and hours of operation, Roswell Park Comprehensive Cancer Center (Roswell Park) has launched a new online community for people affected by cancer. Created as part of a national initiative coordinated by OMNI Health Media, this comprehensive online resource, affiliated with the national CancerConnect.com network, covers everything from clinical trials and wellness tips to jokes and lighthearted videos created by and for people with cancer.
Roswell Park’s new site, available at www.cancerconnect.com/roswellpark, is the first affiliate on the CancerConnect platform. This online community is intended both as an informational resource for patients, family members and caregivers and as a 24/7 extension of the support networks that are such a crucial resource for those whose lives are impacted by cancer.
“We see Roswell Park’s CancerConnect community as being like a comfortable coffee shop where you can meet people with similar interests and even make great friends along the way,” says Dana Jenkins, MS, Assistant Vice President of Organizational Performance Improvement at Roswell Park and a moderator for the new online community. “It’s a place that patients, their family members and their friends can come together to learn from and support one another.”
Site users can access more than 30 disease-specific national communities, or join groups focused on care giving, health and wellness, clinical trials, insurance, nutrition and survivorship. The site features regular news updates, a social-networking component and feature stories on survivorship and living well. And through the national CancerConnect site, community members can chat with some of their favorite authors and hear from celebrity survivors like Donna Karan, Sheryl Crow, Hoda Kotb and Katie Couric.
It’s important to have these resources available whenever you need them, says Faith Addiss, RN, Patient Education Facilitator and another moderator for the site.
“Say it’s late at night or a Sunday afternoon and you have a question that doesn’t warrant a call to your doctor, or maybe you are just feeling confused or alone,” Addiss says. “Now you can just go online and connect with folks who truly understand how you are feeling. Community members can post a question about something they’re experiencing or share tips on getting through the day. They share firsthand perspective on how they handled difficult situations — everything from work and family issues to financial challenges.”
About Roswell Park Comprehensive Cancer Center
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 at http://www.roswellpark.org, call 1-800-ROSWELL (1-800-767-9355) or email AskRoswell@Roswellpark.org.
About Omni Health Media
OMNI Health Media is a leading specialty publisher of cancer-related information, websites, and content specifically for consumers. Established in 1996, OMNI develops and distributes multi-media health education content and programming, with an emphasis on cancer and women’s health. OMNI has developed over 200 websites and supplies educational content and programming to over 1500 physicians for use on Cancer Center and Clinic websites. OMNI’s award-wining content programs reach over 1 million seekers of cancer information in English, Japanese, and Spanish each month. For more information, go to www.cancerconnect.com.
Annie Deck-Miller, Senior Media Relations Manager
716-845-8593; annie.deck-miller@roswellpark.org