This national, non-profit organization provides free, professional support services to cancer patients and their families and caregivers, including counseling, education, financial assistance, and practical help.
Strengths: CancerCare helps anyone affected by cancer — patients, caregivers, children, loved ones, and the bereaved — through its innovative counseling and support groups. Online support groups via message boards are available 24 hours a day, seven days a week. Individual telephone counseling and telephone support groups are also offered. All programs are provided by trained oncology social workers and are free of charge. CancerCare also provides free telephone education workshops on a variety of cancer-related topics, as well as financial assistance and practical help for dealing with a cancer diagnosis and treatment.
Financial Assistance
CancerCare Assist can help patients and families who are struggling with cancer-related costs, including those related to medication, transportation, home care, or child care. Trained CancerCare social workers can help patients find financial assistance, and you can find online applications in both English and Spanish for CancerCare’s own financial assistance program. The Web site also offers a free download called Financial Help for People with Cancer, which is organized by the type of assistance needed and provides a listing of organizations that provide assistance as well as internet links and telephone contact information, as well as a free resource guide called A Helping Hand that you can search to find valuable national and local resources that provide a variety of helpful services to people with cancer and their loved ones.
Online Support Groups
CancerCare offers free counseling either individually or through professionally run support groups on a wide range of topics. Both types of counseling are offered online, by phone, or in person (at CancerCare locations in New York, Long Island, New Jersey, and Connecticut). CancerCare social workers can also guide patients and family members to counseling and support groups in their own communities.
A full listing of CancerCare support groups is available on the Web site. Online support groups via message boards are available 24 hours a day, 7 days a week and are moderated by professional oncology social workers. There are support groups for patients, caregivers, and those who have lost a loved one to cancer. These groups are sub-categorized by type of cancer, treatment side effects, age group, survivorship, and relationship to the patient, (e.g., parents, spouses, etc.). Participation in online support groups is free and confidential, but you must register to participate.
What is unique about CancerCare's online support groups is that the social worker facilitating the group maintains regular contact with each of its participants. This facilitator will reply to unanswered questions and concerns as needed and offer guidance and resources to the group. Support group participants can also contact their social worker at CancerCare if they need additional support.
Telephone Education Workshops
CancerCare Connect sponsors free Telephone Education Workshops for people living with cancer, their families and caregivers, and healthcare professionals. These workshops are essentially conference calls led by cancer experts that can help you learn about cancer-related issues and treatment from the convenience of home. Workshops are accessible by phone throughout the United States and internationally (no phone charges apply), and the CancerCare Web site provides a month-by-month calendar of upcoming workshops. They are held several times a month from 1:30 PM to 2:30 PM, eastern time, but you must pre-register at least one week in advance. Online registration is available, or you may call CancerCare at 1-800-813-HOPE (4673). You do not need to have access to the Internet to participate in these workshops.
Treatment and Side Effects
CancerCare's Reading Room offers easy-to-understand publications about cancer, including medical, emotional, and practical concerns related to the disease. Booklets and fact sheets can be downloaded free of charge, or print copies may be ordered online. To view the online versions, you will need a PDF viewer such as Adobe Reader, which can be downloaded from the internet free of charge.
