1,600 + Las Vegas Cancer Patients Served by
American Cancer Society Patient Navigator Program in 2012
Program’s success will be celebrated at breakfast featuring patients served & navigators at Sunrise Hospital on March 22
Cancer patients at Sunrise Hospital and Sunrise Children’s Hospital in Las Vegas can rest a little easier thanks to a unique resource that can help make the cancer journey easier to handle — The American Cancer Society’s Patient Navigator Program.
The “navigator” takes the sea of personal paperwork and worry that often accompanies a cancer diagnosis, and manages the load piece by piece, so the patients and their caregivers can focus on getting well. More than 1600 individuals and families coping with cancer were served in 2012.
American Cancer Society’s Patient Navigator program at Sunrise was made possible by a $100,000 grant from Anthem Blue Cross and Blue Shield’s corporate foundation to the American Cancer Society. The Society launched the Patient Navigator program in 2005 in collaboration with community-based hospitals and cancer centers to help newly diagnosed patients and their caregivers with a myriad of tasks– from locating a wig for a chemotherapy patient to connecting them with a support group or arranging financial counseling.
“The Patient Navigation program plays an essential role in the American Cancer Society’s mission to help people get well, stay well, find cures and fight back,” said Juliana Pisani, District Executive Director of the American Cancer Society, Las Vegas. “We are grateful that Anthem Blue Cross and Blue Shield is our partner in the program and sees the tremendous value of this crucial service.”
The American Cancer Society, Sunrise and Anthem will celebrate the Patient Navigator program at a breakfast reception on Friday, March 22, from 8 a.m. to 9 a.m. at Sunrise Hospital Auditorium, 3186 S. Maryland Parkway. The event will feature testimonials from the American Cancer Society Patient Navigator at Sunrise (Linda Ivers), patients who received services and executives from the American Cancer Society, Sunrise and Anthem.
The American Cancer Society’s Patient Navigator Program creates one-on-one relationships between newly diagnosed patients and trained patient navigators, who provide information, support and personal guidance throughout a cancer experience. Patient navigators are available to help patients and their families face the psychological, emotional and financial challenges that cancer can bring. The service is free and confidential, and places an emphasis on assisting medically underserved populations. Of the patients served at Sunrise over the past year, 11 percent were on Medicaid or uninsured and 22 percent were on Medicare.
Nationwide, the American Cancer Society has placed trained Patient Navigators in 134 hospitals and treatment centers across the country, as well as in centralized call centers serving large regions to assist cancer patients as they begin treatment. In addition to the in-person services available at Sunrise, Patient Navigators can be reached anytime day or night by calling 1-800-ACS-2345.
The grant for Nevada was part of a larger, $1.5 million commitment from Anthem’s parent company foundation that is supporting 17 Patient Navigator programs in 14 states.
“The American Cancer Society’s Patient Navigators are experts at understanding how to link patients and their families with the services and information they need,” said Mike Murphy, president and general manager of Anthem in Nevada. “They bring everything together in a one-stop-shop type of way that helps to ease the stress of navigating the health care system so cancer patients can focus on getting better.”
About the American Cancer Society
The American Cancer Society combines an unyielding passion with nearly a century of experience to save lives and end cancer for good. As a global grassroots force of three million volunteers, we fight for every birthday threatened by every cancer in every community. We save lives by helping you stay well by preventing cancer or detecting it early, helping you get well by being there for you during and after a diagnosis, by finding cures through groundbreaking discovery and fighting back through public policy. As the nation’s largest non-governmental investor in cancer research, contributing more than $3.8 billion, we turn what we know about cancer into what we do. As a result, an estimated 13.7 million people in America who have had cancer and countless more who have avoided it will be celebrating birthdays this year. To learn more about us or to get help, call us anytime, day or night, at 1-800-227-2345 or visit cancer.org.
About Sunrise Hospital
Chosen as the top hospital in Nevada by U.S. News and World Report and voted as the Best Hospital in Las Vegas by the Las Vegas Review Journal’s “Best of Las Vegas” readers’ poll, Sunrise Hospital & Medical Center provides high-quality, advanced healthcare services in Southern Nevada and the surrounding region. A Consumer Choice award-winning hospital for 15 consecutive years, Las Vegas’ largest acute care facility offers a full range of specialized services including an Accredited Chest Pain Center, The Nevada Neurosciences Institute— the region’s first Joint Commission Certified Primary Stroke Center—featuring stroke, epilepsy, multiple sclerosis and sleep disorder treatments, a Comprehensive Cancer Center recognized by the American College of Surgeons, a comprehensive Breast Center, a Level-II Trauma and Emergency Services Department, a CARF accredited inpatient Rehabilitation Center, Orthopedics, Gamma Knife and specialty services in women’s health, pulmonology, critical care, complex surgery and wound care. Sharing the same campus is Sunrise Children’s Hospital, Nevada’s largest, most comprehensive children’s hospital.
About Anthem Blue Cross and Blue Shield in Nevada
Anthem Blue Cross and Blue Shield is the trade name of Rocky Mountain Hospital and Medical Service, Inc. HMO products underwritten by HMO Colorado, Inc., dba HMO Nevada. Independent licensees of the Blue Cross and Blue Shield Association. ®ANTHEM is a registered trademark of Anthem Insurance Companies, Inc. The Blue Cross and Blue Shield names and symbols are registered marks of the Blue Cross Blue Shield Association. Additional information about Anthem Blue Cross and Blue Shield in Nevada is available at www.anthem.com. Also, follow us on Twitter at www.twitter.com/healthjoinin, on Facebook at www.facebook.com/HealthJoinIn, or visit our YouTube channel at www.youtube.com/healthjoinin.
About the Anthem Blue Cross and Blue Shield Foundation
Through charitable grant making, the Anthem Blue Cross and Blue Shield Foundation LLC, an independent licensee of the Blue Cross and Blue Shield Association, promotes Anthem’s inherent commitment to enhance the health and well-being of individuals and families in communities that Anthem Blue Cross and Blue Shield serves. The Foundation focuses its funding on strategic initiatives that address and provide innovative solutions to health care challenges, as well as promoting the Healthy Generations Program, a multi-generational initiative that targets specific disease states and medical conditions. These include: prenatal care in the first trimester, low birth weight babies, cardiac morbidity rates, long term activities that decrease obesity and increase physical activity, diabetes prevalence in adult populations, adult pneumococcal and influenza vaccinations and smoking cessation. The Foundation also coordinates the company’s annual associate giving campaign and its parent foundation provides a 50 percent match of associates’ campaign pledges. ®ANTHEM is a registered trademark of Anthem Insurance Companies, Inc. The Blue Cross and Blue Shield names and symbols are registered marks of the Blue Cross and Blue Shield Association.