AFTER COMPLETING TREATMENT
for breast
cancer, Jill is told by her physicians that she can go back to work
and resume her usual routine. She should be relieved, but instead
she’s scared. The tightness and pain in her arm has made it hard
for her to use it. She is so run-down and weak that she can’t clean
her house or make dinner for her family without taking several
breaks. Her relationship with her friends and family has changed,
and when she looks in the mirror, she hardly recognizes herself.
Jill feels alone and helpless.
Jill’s scenario is not unique. That’s why Faith Regional
Health Services incorporates survivorship services as a distinct
phase of cancer treatment. STAR (Survivorship Training And
Rehabilitation) is a nationally certified program in which a
team of experts, including physicians, rehabilitation therapists,
nurses, dietitians, mental health professionals and other staff,
are trained to understand the issues that cancer patients face
and help them connect to resources to help them heal no mat-
ter where they are in the treatment process. Faith Regional was
the first hospital in Nebraska to become a STAR-certified cancer
program.
Through the STAR program,
Jill’s experience would look
much different:
•
Following Jill’s breast cancer
diagnosis, biopsy and lumpec-
tomy, she would be evaluated
by an occupational therapist
specializing in lymphedema,
which is painful swelling that
can result from cancer treatment. Jill would receive education
on how to prevent and manage lymphedema in her arm.
•
A physical therapist would begin seeing Jill to address her arm
and shoulder pain and improve the use of her arm and shoul-
der. She would also learn how to manage her cancer-related
fatigue and increase her energy level. She would even receive
a home exercise program to utilize throughout the rest of her
treatment.
•
Following a meeting with her doctor about her plan for che-
motherapy, Jill would meet with a breast cancer survivor who
would be able to offer Jill a perspective that few health care
providers can. This support could help relieve Jill’s anxiety and
provide determination to beat her cancer.
•
Physical therapy would help Jill regain full range of motion
in her shoulder before beginning radiation treatment, which
would prevent her from experiencing shoulder and arm
discomfort.
•
During her cancer treatment, Jill would learn about “A Time to
Heal,” a free 12-week educational program that provides cancer
survivors and their caregivers with tools designed to help them
regain physical, emotional and spiritual health after treatment.
STAR-certified cancer programs support the cancer treatment
process by helping restore patients back to their “normal self,”
which is often altered during treatment. The STAR program
allows patients like Jill to say, “My doctors saved my life, and
survivorship services gave me my life back.”
14 FAITH REGIONAL
HEALTH SERVICES
Continuing
the healing
AFTER CANCER TREATMENT,
CANCER SURVIVORSHIP
SERVICES CAN HELP
