Cancer Supportive Services Program

Cancer Supportive Services? Why do I need someone else?
This is different. Fighting cancer is really hard, not just on your body but also on your mood, your family, your relationship, your job, and your budget. Cancer Supportive Services at Continuum Cancer Centers of New York are not more rounds of blood tests and physical exams, but instead are comprehensive programs that can ease your distress. Whether it be doctors who treat your symptoms, counselors and social workers with whom you can confide your fears, or nutritionists who can help you develop a realistic meal plan, we provide an extra hand to sustain your body and strengthen your spirits.

Our Cancer Supportive Services take an interdisciplinary team approach to decreasing patient stress. The supportive services team includes:

• Board certified psychiatrist specializing in hospice/palliative medicine

• Psychologists

• Social workers

• Clergy

• Nutritionists

• Genetic counselors

• Financial counselors

• Physical, occupational, and speech therapists

• Health educators

Our program incorporates three components: universal screening, research, and treatment. The primary component, universal screening, uses a tool known as a “distress thermometer” to determine a patient's level of distress and resolve issues in need of attention. This screening tool provides quantitative and qualitative measures based on a patient's answers to a series of questions. Depending on their scores, patients may then be referred to a member of our supportive services team for further assessment and treatment.

By making patients aware of physical and psychological experiences that are part of ongoing cancer treatment, and by providing intervention where possible, we anticipate that patients and their families will be better prepared for treatment.

Our goal is to offer total care that combines spirituality with the best symptom control to all cancer patients, regardless of whether or not their cancer has responded to treatment.

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