Helping Hand Resource Guide
How to Find Resources in Your Community
When you or a loved one is facing cancer, many issues, decisions and difficulties arise. There are support services to help you deal with many of these problems. The first step is learning about the types of services available.
What Kind of Help Can I Get?
- General Information: Many cancer organizations (such as CancerCare) provide a wide range of information on different types of cancer, as well as information on treatment decisions, clinical trials and side effects management.
- Emotional Support: Cancer can leave you feeling lonely, scared or distressed. Counseling, support groups, patient-to-patient networks, and other types of support are available to help you cope with these emotions.
- Financial Needs: There are companies and organizations that help cancer patients with medical billing, insurance coverage, and reimbursement.
- Transportation Needs: Many people have trouble getting to medical appointments during and after treatment. In many communities, transportation services are available to help you.
- Housing/Lodging: Some organizations provide lodging for families of a patient undergoing treatment, especially if the patient is a child.
- Children’s Services: There are organizations that provide services for children with cancer or children with a family member with cancer, including counseling, summer camps and “make-a-wish” programs.
- Home healthcare/Hospice: Home healthcare is for patients who no longer need to be in the hospital, but still require skilled care at home. Hospice care focuses on the special needs of terminally ill cancer patients.
How Do I Find These Resources?
Often the services that people need are in their own neighborhood or are easily accessible. Here are some helpful tips on where to get started:
- CancerCare: CancerCare’s staff can help you find resources in your community. Contact us via email or call 1-800-813-HOPE (4673).
- Internet: There is an enormous amount of information on the internet. To make sure you’re following reliable information, see our article “Finding Reliable Health Information on the Web.”
- Your healthcare team: Doctors, nurses and social workers can provide information about your medical condition, pain management, rehabilitation, home nursing and hospice care.
- Hospitals: Hospital social workers and discharge planning coordinators are great resources for information about counseling, home care, transportation and childcare.
- Public library: Public libraries and libraries at cancer centers are excellent sources of information. Ask the librarian to help you find books/articles on your disease.
- Local churches, synagogues, YMCA, YWCA or fraternal orders: Many of these places provide volunteers for transportation or home care.
- Local/county government: Local governments often offer low cost transportation. Also, government agencies can give you information on Social Security, state disability, Medicaid, income maintenance, and food stamps.
Here are two important agencies to contact for resources in your local community:
- The American Cancer Society also maintains a database of community resources you can search by Zip code.
- If you are 60 years of age or more, your Area Agency on Aging has both information and case management services. They can also help guide you through government programs and entitlements.