A cancer diagnosis can be a difficult and overwhelming experience for patients and their caregivers. We want you to know that we are here to help. Whether you seek acupuncture, nutritional advice, help to quit smoking, symptom relief, or want to talk with a counselor, we offer an array of services and resources to address any need — physical, emotional, practical, spiritual, social and more.

You don’t have to do this alone. Talk to your physicians or nurses or stop by The 11 Day Power Play Cancer Resource Center (on the first floor, just outside the tower elevators) and we will get you connected with the staff, services and resources that can help.

Staff physician Michelle Walter, DO, and patient - Supportive and Palliative Care

Supportive & Palliative Care

We offer support and treatment to relieve difficult symptoms such as nausea, pain, poor sleep, anxiety and other distressing issues. Our team includes physicians, psychologists, psychiatrists, social workers, chaplains and more. Feeling overwhelmed?

How we can help

chapter 2 cancer surivor workshop 2017 yoga

Wellness Programs

From guided meditation to exploring the arts, Roswell Park’s wellness programs contribute to your health and well-being in many ways.

Explore our programs

Survivorship with Dr. Tessa Flores, Dr. Mary Redin and Karen Larkin, RN

Survivorship Care

We aim to make life after cancer the best it can be. Our Survivorship program offers you a survivorship care plan — a comprehensive guide — to help you face forward, stay healthy, cope with lingering or new challenges and begin life beyond cancer treatment.

Survivorship

The 11 Day Power Play Cancer Resource Center

The 11 Day Power Play Cancer Resource Center is a place for you and your family to gather information, support, assistance, resources and materials designed to educate, comfort and guide you through your cancer journey

Learn more

Our services

We offer multiple programs and services for our patients and their families. Whether you are newly diagnosed, currently going through treatment or a survivor, you will have access to the following services provided at Roswell Park.

Acupuncture focuses on the movement of a person’s energy flow, or qi, (pronounced “ch'i”), which flows through a system of pathways in the body called meridians. Acupuncture helps to manage many of the long-term effects of cancer treatment, such as:

  • Pain
  • Fatigue
  • Anxiety
  • Difficulty sleeping
  • Digestive complaints

Acupuncture is also important for general supportive care, to help you regain and maintain your health and well-being.

Learn more about acupuncture

Patient Advocates play a unique and vital role for patients and your families — acting as a liaison between you, the administration, physicians and staff.

Why is a patient advocate needed?

  • To resolve issues with coordination of your care
  • To mediate poor or counterproductive communication between you or your loved ones and the medical staff
  • To eradicate possible infringement of patient rights, including discrimination based on race, age, sex, gender, sexual orientation, gender identity, religion, nationality or disability

Bringing requests, concerns, or complaints to a Roswell Park patient advocate is not viewed negatively and will in no way result in any repercussions with respect to patient care.

Patient Advocate Program

The Cancer Coach Program connects patients with cancer survivors who know firsthand how a cancer diagnosis changes your life. Talking with someone who has lived with cancer can reduce anxiety and isolation. This free program matches coaches with patients based on diagnosis, cancer type, stage, age and gender.

Please connect with the Cancer Coach Program if you are interested in being matched with a coach, or becoming one yourself!

Cancer Coach

Assigned to you while you're in hospital, our nurse case managers assist in referring patients for skilled home care services such as home nursing, home infusions, and other services you may need at home after you leave the hospital.

Case Management

Cancer and its treatment can cause oral health and dental problems that require specialized expertise and timely care before, during and after your cancer treatment — our specialists are highly trained in addressing the complex and unique dental and oral health needs of cancer patients and survivors.

Dental Care and Maxillofacial Prosthetics

From the moment you step into our spa-like salon, you will feel the warmth and knowledge of our compassionate staff and volunteers. We invite you take time to relax as we guide you through navigating hair loss during treatment. We’re here for you every step of the way – we’ve got you covered!

Services offered

  • Pretreatment haircut
  • Wig style, trim & shape
  • Inpatient or outpatient head shave
  • Hat-with-hair trim
  • Pretreatment haircuts intended for hair donation organizations (patients only)

Elevate Salon Learn more

Some cancer patients face the risk of infertility due to the location of the tumor or the type of treatment. If you hope to have children in the future, Roswell Park's experts, in association with Buffalo IVF Associates, will explain the choices available to you.

Reproductive specialists, facilitated through the Wellness and Integrated Medicine Center, will meet with you as soon as possible so you'll have the most options for fertility preservation. 

Fertility Preservation

Our integrative medicine specialist will meet with interested pediatric and adolescent patients and their families, assess their supportive care needs on an ongoing basis, and provide interventions throughout the course of therapy in order to:

  • Manage and relieve treatment side effects
  • Improve stamina, appetite and sleep
  • Reduce pain, anxiety and fatigue
  • Help make the treatment experience easier

Integrative Medicine

Neighborhood Legal Services Inc., provides legal services for eligible low-income cancer patients. The program is supported by funding from the Roswell Park Alliance Foundation.

Am I eligible for NLS services?

You may be eligible for NLS’ legal services if:

  • You are at or below 200% of the federal poverty level
  • You are a U.S. Citizen
  • You or a loved one is a patient admitted to Roswell Park

Legal Care

2022 HEI LGBTQ+ Healthcare Equality Leader logo

As a designated LGBTQ+ Healthcare Equality Leader on the Human Rights Campaign Foundation’s Healthcare Equality Index (HEI), Roswell Park is committed to offering LGBTQ+ patients, and their families quality cancer care. We provide access to sexual health clinics, cervical and anal cancer screenings, and tobacco cessation, with social workers available to help navigate all available resources for LGBTQ+ patients and visitors.

LGBTQ+ Health

A cancer diagnosis – your own or a loved one’s – can make you stop and think about your life, its meaning, and its purpose. Our unique Life Recorded program gives you the opportunity to tell your story.

Learn more about Life Recorded

Massage therapy can be beneficial to the mind, body and spirit, both during and after cancer treatment. While massage does not treat the cancer itself, scientific research has documented its potential benefits, including reduced pain, fatigue and anxiety, improved sleep, greater range of motion, sharper mental function and alertness. It is extremely important that your masseuse or massage therapist has been trained to work with cancer patients. Roswell Park offers monthly massage sessions for patients and caregivers.

Come get a 10 minute massage in the Resouce Center! Learn more about massage therapy

Meditation helps many patients feel better and sleep better while reducing pain and anxiety. You can do it anywhere, without special equipment and with minimal training. Scientific studies have documented the benefits of meditation, which has been shown to relieve depression, anxiety, lack of concentration, high blood pressure, inflammatory disorders, asthma, PMS, arthritis and fibromyalgia, among other conditions.

Learn more about meditation

 

We know a cancer diagnosis and treatment can have a substantial impact on a patient's mental health. Roswell Park offers both psychiatry and psychology services to patients and their families when they need someone to talk to.

What is the difference?

A psychologist can help to address/treat the psychological, social, and behavioral factors that are often associated with a cancer diagnosis and treatment A psychiatrist is a medical doctor who specializes in the pharmacologic treatment of psychiatric disorders including: adjustment disorders, clinical depression, anxiety, PTSD, bipolar disorder and schizophrenia. 

Psychology Psychiatry

Our board-certified dietitians at Roswell Park are part of your healthcare team and can help you make the best food choices to optimize your health.

Good nutrition will help keep you healthy during treatment, speed your recovery and make it less likely that you'll develop new cancers in the future. It can also protect you from heart disease and obesity, both of which can be controlled by diet and lifestyle decisions.

Nutrition Services

Our Cancer Pain Management Service (CPMS) uses a team approach to reducing pain in cancer patients — pinpointing the areas and nature of each patient’s discomfort and selecting the most appropriate treatment or treatments to relieve the patient’s pain and suffering.

The expertise of anesthesiologists, psychologists, nurses, acupuncturists, physical and occupational therapists, nutritionists, and social workers merges into a comprehensive pain management plan designed to meet the individual needs of each patient.

Pain Management

Our Patient Education Library offers a wide range of information from your Roswell Park clinicians and trusted organizations about diagnosis, treatment, discharge and home care instructions, drug profiles, and resources for support.

Patient Education Library

Our Rehabilitation Services encompass both inpatient and outpatient services to provide physical and occupational therapy specifically designed for cancer patients and survivors — before, during and after cancer treatment.

Our therapists can help you increase your strength, control pain, improve your balance and manage everyday activities to the best of your ability, through physical and occupational therapy.

Rehabilitation Therapy

Reiki (pronounced ray-kee) is a Japanese technique for stress reduction and relaxation. Combining Reiki with medical care can be very effective. There is growing evidence that Reiki may help people mentally and physically, as it soothes, relaxes and reduces anxiety and pain.

Reiki sessions are offered on Tuesdays in the Survivorship and Supportive Care Clinic and on Thursdays in The 11 Day Power Play Cancer Resouce Center. Learn more about these sessions below. 

Participate in a Reiki class at Roswell Park Learn more about Reiki

The 11 Day Power Play Cancer Resource Center is a place where cancer patients and their families can find information, support, assistance, resources and materials designed to educate, comfort and guide them through their cancer journey.

Resource Center

Cancer screening is extremely important for cancer survivors. Screening tests can detect cancer long before symptoms appear, and cancers found through routine screening are generally smaller and at an earlier stage, when treatment is most effective.

Roswell Park’s Cancer Screening Center offers a comprehensive cancer education, screening and prevention program, and provides screenings for these cancers: breast, cervical, colorectal, lung, prostate and skin. When you come to the Survivorship Clinic, we review your screening needs with you. Screening services at Roswell Park are available to everyone, not just our patients.

Screening Assessment

Addressing the side effects of cancer treatment on your sexual health is an important part of your cancer care, and as vital as pain management, physical therapy and emotional well-being.

We understand that these issues may be difficult to talk about. A visit at our clinic will include a physical exam and compassionate discussion with either a gynecologic oncologist or a urologist. They will take the time to hear you and offer real solutions to help you regain a healthy sexual life.

Sexual Health Clinic

Our social workers connect patients with internal Roswell Park and community resources which can address the challenges you face during your treatment, including: individual counseling, discharge planning, placement in a skilled nursing or rehab facility after you leave the hospital, referrals for financial assistance, disability concerns, legal assistance referrals, etc.

Social Work

While undergoing cancer treatments, such as surgery, chemotherapy, and radiation therapy, your ability to swallow, speak, or communicate may be affected. Our speech-language pathologists have extensive training in diagnostics and therapy in the areas of swallowing, speech, language, voice therapy and alaryngeal speech, to provide assessment and treatment for both outpatients and inpatients at Roswell Park.

Learn more about speech-language pathology

Spiritual Care is an interfaith department supporting the concept of holistic medicine. We recognize the integration of spiritual, emotional, social, psychological and physical care as important for the health of the whole being.

Spiritual Care

Support groups provide an opportunity for patients, families, and friends to discuss concerns, ask questions, share information, and relate experiences coping with cancer.

Support Groups

Our Supportive & Palliative Care team provides essential support and symptom management to our patients and their families as they cope with their cancer and its treatment — available at any stage of a serious illness and alongside cancer treatment.

Supportive and Palliative Care

It's our goal to make life after cancer the best it can be — we offer a wide range of services, workshops and cancer support programs to help you manage any emotional, physical and spiritual challenges as you move beyond treatment.

Survivorship

Whether you are thinking about quitting or ready to quit tobacco all together, we can help. Your cancer care team includes certified tobacco treatment specialists who understand the specific needs of Roswell Park patients.

Tobacco Cessation

Our Wellness program aims to improve the well-being and overall quality of life of everyone at Roswell Park. We have specific programs for patients, survivors, caregivers and volunteers.

Wellness Wellness events for patients

Yoga is a whole-body philosophy that combines breathing, stretching exercises, postures and meditation. Yoga has been found to help reduce anxiety, depression, fatigue and stress for cancer survivors while also improving sleep and overall quality of life. Yoga is offered through Roswell Park's Survivorship and Wellness Initiative for both survivors and caregivers.

View our yoga series with Kate Glaser, PhD

We know that cancer was never part of your plan — and especially not now. We know what it’s like to face cancer while in college, building a career or raising a family. We know what it really means to have cancer interrupt your life, and we can help.

Our program brings together support services designed to help you overcome the unique physical, emotional, social and practical challenges associated with a cancer diagnosis at this life stage.

Young Adult Program