Texas Cancer Council grant aims at expanding support network

McALLEN - One thing is clear to the healthcare providers who help cancer patients and survivors: more resources are needed.

From providing special training on cancer care to nurses and other health professionals, to forming a community network for patients that can garner more local program funding, the need is vast. 

"The bottom line is we need better survivorship services; we've looked at what survivors need, and it's a long list," said Dolly Villarreal, a founding member of the Lower Rio Grande Valley Cancer Network Coalition, which was loosely formed to help cancer survivors with emotional support and other services.

Now, the informal group of volunteers and healthcare providers hopes to grow its power as part of a $100,000 grant from the Texas Cancer Council that the University of Texas Medical Branch's satellite clinic in McAllen recently secured.

Clinic leaders had already completed a "community-needs assessment," looking at which services cancer patients and survivors need in the region. They concluded the Valley needs more clinics and follow-up care, economic assistance to pay for care, public education on cancer, support groups and transportation services.

Many poor and uninsured patients seek care in Mexico because the cost of treatment is too high in the United States, according to the clinic's study. Some must even suspend treatment before its completion because of cost. And treatment centers like the Vannie E. Cook Jr. Children's Cancer and Hematology Clinic in McAllen, which treats children with cancer, end up absorbing much of the cost of treating the poor.

The needs don't stop there, though.

The patients who survive cancer treatment, and their families, would benefit from a support network and information about the aftereffects of cancer treatment, said Shirley Arnolde, a coalition organizer and administrator for Clinica Maria Luisa in Peñitas.

"There has to be a center, a main place to network and find out what resources are in the community," Arnolde said.

With the Texas Cancer Council grant funds, the UTMB clinic already has organized support groups at area clinics and is working on training nurses and promotoras, or lay healthcare workers, on cancer care, said Norma Castillo, a social worker at UTMB.

 "It needs to start someplace," Arnolde said.

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Melissa McEver covers health and environment issues for Valley Freedom Newspapers. She is based in Harlingen and you can reach her at (956) 430-6252.