A $115,000
gift to UNCG has provided seed money for the creation
of a program for newly diagnosed breast cancer patients.
Mary Jones of Greensboro has made a gift of $115,000
to the Center
for Women’s Health and Wellness in the School
of Health and Human Performance at UNCG to establish
The
Alight Initiative for Breast Cancer Survivorship.
The Alight Initiative will provide immediate support
services after diagnoses, during the intermediate
period, as patients work with health care providers
to determine their treatment plan. According to the
National
Cancer Institute, an estimated one out of 7 women
born today will face this situation in their lifetime.
After she was diagnosed in 2003, Mary Jones wanted
to do something to help other women with breast cancer
navigate the complex world of cancer treatment by
adding an extra dose of compassion to this environment.
The program will focus on patient care, research and
education about breast cancer.
“You want to make some sense of it,” Jones
said. “You want something positive to come out
of that frightening, life-altering experience. And
that’s what we hope this program will do by
addressing the current needs of these women and their
families.”
The Alight Initiative, which will be based at the
Center for Women’s Health and Wellness and work
with community partners, seeks to fill a much-needed
void for patients diagnosed with breast cancer –
that period of time between diagnosis and treatment.
“With breast cancer, much of the focus has been
placed on early diagnosis and on improving treatment,”
said Dr. Paige Hall Smith, director of the Center
for Women’s Health and Wellness. “While
these are important, there’s this window between
diagnosis and treatment that has been a void, and
that’s what this program is designed to address.”
The project will consist of three phases:
• Planning. The initiative will focus on the
period of time between the initial diagnosis of breast
cancer and the start of treatment. UNCG researchers
will interview women survivors of breast cancer and,
from those interviews, identify the educational and
support needs of women diagnosed with the disease.
A database of community resources will be compiled
that can be used to address these needs.
• Implementation. This phase of the project
will focus specifically on intervention by developing
“living rooms” for women diagnosed with
breast cancer. These living rooms will be comfortable,
den-like areas where women can go to grieve immediately
after receiving their diagnosis and can return to
learn more about the disease, resources, and treatment
options. The rooms will also be staffed by a nurse
who will help patients navigate through difficult
treatment decisions and other hard choices that go
along with dealing with breast cancer.
• Evaluation. This phase will be designed to
evaluate the benefit of this program to patients,
their families and providers. Future programs will
focus on helping patients navigate the often-times
difficult decisions of breast cancer treatment. It
will also focus on identifying barriers to solutions
for poor and rural patients.
The hope, said Smith, is that this program will become
a model program of breast cancer patient care that
can be applied across the country.
This gift has been made as part of The Students First
Campaign, UNCG’s $78.2 million capital fund
drive that is currently under way.
For more information on the Alight Initiative, contact
the Center
for Women’s Health and Wellness in the School
of Health and Human Performance at (336) 334-4735.
