National Center for Healthcare Advancement and Partnerships
OCE Partnerships and COVID-19
CancerCare provides virtual counseling and resources to Veterans and caregivers affected by cancer
CancerCare is an agency providing psychosocial services to people affected by cancer, including the person with cancer, their caregivers, and the bereaved. Now, CancerCare is exploring ways to help the Veterans Health Administration (VHA) fulfill its mission to bring the best health care solutions to Veterans, their families, caregivers, and survivors.
VHA is in early partnership discussions with CancerCare, which is making many virtual services available to patients because many Veterans are still following stay-at-home orders.
The collaboration’s overall aim is to improve the health care and outcomes of Veterans diagnosed with any type of cancer, and their support networks, through awareness and outreach. CancerCare provides clinical counseling, financial assistance, and education.
According to some reports, there are more than 40,000 cancer diagnoses made within the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) each year, so the services being made accessible online by CancerCare right now are available to many Veterans who may need them.
CancerCare offers: online support groups, a podcast miniseries about the current impact on the cancer community, financial resources and grants for eligible cancer patients, and much more.
“VHA is interested in exploring this partnership because we know that CancerCare’s resources and abilities will augment the services VHA and VA have available for Veterans with cancer,” said Ms. Georgeanna Bady, health systems specialist with VHA’s Office of Community Engagement (OCE), which is supporting this potential partnership. “The virtual counseling platform performed by oncology social workers, especially during COVID-19 offered by CancerCare could enhance VA’s ability to help so many Veterans diagnosed with cancer enrolled in VA healthcare, and provide services to Veterans who are not enrolled or eligible.”
OCE facilitates and manages many partnerships that increase Veterans’ access to the social determinants of health (SDOH), which are the conditions in the places where Veterans live, learn, worship, work, and age. SDOH such as access to a strong social network—which CancerCare’s online support groups provide, for example—lead to better health outcomes for Veterans.
OCE is VHA’s trusted resource and catalyst for growth of public-private partnerships. To learn more about how OCE builds effective partnerships across VHA to support Veterans, visit: www.va.gov/healthpartnerships. To learn more about CancerCare, please visit: www.cancercare.org.
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Posted July 15, 2020
