American Cancer Society's Director of Quality of Life and Survivorship Writes about Palliative Care
The American Cancer Society's Director of Quality of Life and Survivorship, Rebecca Kirch, JD wrote about the life-changing support that palliative care gives to patients fighting cancer. In the article, Kirch looked at how the palliative care option can be expanded to all patients facing cancer and featured senior program officer Amy Berman's experiences following her choice for palliative care.
Rebecca Kirch, JD, the American Cancer Society's Director of Quality of Life and Survivorship wrote in a recent article published in Everyday Health about the life-changing support that palliative care can provide patients who are fighting cancer. For those facing cancer, chronic symptoms such as fatigue, nausea, pain and neuropathy can often exacerbate the diminished quality of life of many patients.
"We have the opportunity to provide optimal treatment that helps the person beyond the disease–supporting quality of life for both patients and their families. The key to creating this reality is palliative care," she wrote.
Citing the experiences of senior program officer at the John A. Hartford Foundation, Amy Berman, Kirch argued for why palliative care and drastically change the lives of people facing cancer. Despite the fact that more and more of the nation's hopsitals are adding palliative care teams, only 54 percent of hospitals have access to palliative care. Palliative care, as Kirch puts it, can allow patients to go beyond surviving cancer and "thrive as well."
To read the full article, head over to the Everyday Health website.
