April is National Volunteer Month! Cancer Care Services is celebrating our volunteers all month long with thank you videos from our staff. (Watch the videos on our social media!)
In 1991, President George H.W. Bush launched the 1000 Points of Light campaign and established April as National Volunteer Month. This month is dedicated to all the volunteers who give their time to better their communities.
Our volunteers are the heart of Cancer Care Services. We thank each and every one of you so much for gifting our clients with kindness and joy. The time you spend volunteering with Cancer Care brings help and hope to those coping with cancer.
Who is the volunteer of the month?
We also have a very special announcement: Marilyn Kepner is our volunteer of the month! Marilyn is always ready to help our clients – whether she’s at the Cancer Care Services front desk or helping at Texas Oncology. Keep reading to learn more about our fantastic volunteer of the month!
Tell us about yourself:
I am a retired RN Case Manager. I am originally from Pittsburgh and am an avid fan of Pittsburgh sports teams. I am a Mom to one son, grandma to one girl and three boys, and great-grandma to two girls and two boys.
What brought you to Cancer Care Services as a volunteer?
My retirement plan includes volunteering at multiple organizations. Cancer Care Services started with one event – an Adios Cancer celebration and grew from there to office receptionist volunteer to now adding prescreening at Texas Oncology (and that has been quite a gift during the Covid Years).
What is your favorite thing about volunteering with Cancer Care Services?
I love being with people, and Cancer Care Services allows one to meet new people and for me to keep my hand on healthcare.
What has been one of your most memorable moments volunteering with Cancer Care Services?
My memorable moment was learning to operate the popcorn machine during events – it kept me very busy that day!
How has your experience with cancer impacted your volunteering?
In my family, my son had Hodgkin’s Lymphoma – now in remission, and my father had lung cancer. Because during those days, I was made aware of Cancer Care Services, I am now eager to tell people in the community about the organization and the great work being done.
What would you say to someone who is thinking about volunteering with Cancer Care Services?
I would encourage anyone interested in volunteering that Cancer Care Services is wonderful, that cancer is not all gloom and doom and that they can feel good because you get smiles.
How do I volunteer with Cancer Care Services?
If you want to volunteer with Cancer Care Services, you can sign-up through ourVolunteer Form or email Megan Clifton, our Client Connection and Volunteer Manager, at Megan@CancerCareServices.org. View our Volunteer page for more information and sign up to join our volunteer email list for upcoming opportunities. We hope to see you at our next volunteer opportunity!
“I love it!” One of our youngest clients of the night had a blast at the Encanto-themed selfie station! Thank you, Selfie Factor FW, for setting up the adorable selfie station so our clients could capture special memories. Our staff, volunteers, and clients smiled wide for their pictures as the magical Encanto characters surrounded them. Look at those sweet smiles!
A family takes a photo with the selfie station.
Cancer Care’s counseling intern led the therapeutic component and brought an abundance of laughter and energy. Each person drew their own door, like the special doors in Encanto, that represented their strengths and interests. Then, they drew another door that showed their true selves – fears and all!
Cancer Care’s counseling intern and Client Connection Manager lead the therapeutic component of the night.
Our volunteers enchanted the night with welcoming smiles, tasty popcorn, and hot chocolate. A perfect treat on a chilly night! The families snuggled up in their blankets and snacked on their treats as the opening song began the movie.
“We Don’t Talk About Bruno” proved to be the fan favorite since everyone couldn’t help but sing along. Miss Megan even danced around the parking lot and sang to each of the kids! Just like how Mirabel unites her family, our March 2022 Connect Night brought the Cancer Care community together. Stay tuned for the next Connect Night!
by Alexis Allison, Fort Worth Report
September 21, 2021
The woman in the third car outside of Las Vegas Trail Rise food pantry wanted to talk. It was about 9 a.m. on a Tuesday, and she was waiting in a food line that wouldn’t start moving for another hour.
She’s lost people to cancer and COVID-19 as recently as last weekend, she told Carlene King, the community health worker standing outside her driver’s side window. The woman wept, and King took her number.
She said she would call her later and refer her to Cancer Care Services, the nonprofit that employs King as a liaison between the community and the company: “This is why I do what I do.”
The interaction took three minutes, maybe four, a moment of intimacy amid rolled-up windows and language barriers and people who didn’t want to chat about cancer while they waited for food.
A similar moment occurred two days before at a church across town. Fatu Holloway, a community health worker at Tarrant County Public Health, was giving a presentation for Birdville ISD about the county’s Women, Infants and Children program, which provides nutritional services to pregnant women, new moms and their children. A woman and her pregnant teenage daughter listened nearby, Holloway remembers.
The woman looked “lost,” she said. Afterward, they spoke. Holloway told her where to find baby things like diapers and car seats for free. The next day, the woman texted Holloway: She’d made an appointment for a car seat and wanted to let her know.
“I’m convinced that the (community health worker) role is the answer to every ill out there.”
A community health worker like King or Holloway may be the hand that pulls a person into a health care system for the first time. A certified, frontline worker who’s usually part of the community in which they work, they serve as liaisons, advocates, educators and, sometimes, someone in whom to confide. “We’re just that friendly bunch,” King said.
And, when it comes to the people most likely to experience poor health outcomes, community health workers may be key in helping reduce disparities.
“I’m convinced that the (community health worker) role is the answer to every ill out there,” Lisa Padilla, the board president of the Dallas Fort Worth Community Health Worker Association, said in a webinar hosted by Cancer Care Services last week.
The rise of community health workers
Community health workers have formally participated in health systems across the U.S. since at least the 1950s, according to the American Public Health Association.
In 2001, Texas was the first state to implement statewide training and credentialing standards for community health workers. In nearly 20 years, the number of community health workers in Texas has grown from fewer than 500 to around 4,000.
“Texas has a really robust and well-oiled system for educating our community health workers,” said Teresa Wagner, a community health worker instructor and an assistant professor at The University of North Texas Health Science Center.
That well-established system, she said, helped public health workers connect with hard-to-reach populations during the pandemic. “They’ve become a huge topic of conversation, especially because of the disparities that we’ve seen with COVID-19,” she said.
For decades, research around the country has addressed the role and efficacy of these health workers in expanding access to care and reducing disparities in their communities.
For example, in Detroit, Black and Hispanic adults with Type 2 diabetes had healthier hemoglobin A1c levels and more self-reported understanding of their disease after working with community health workers than the same group who didn’t, according to a randomized, controlled study about interventions for diabetes care.
When it comes to cancer care, like screenings, diagnostic procedures and wellness exams, people who interacted with community health workers or patient advocates were more likely to get screened and, for those with cancer, receive a definitive diagnosis within one year than those who didn’t. All but two of 24 studies in this systematic literature review reported statistically significant positive outcomes from these interventions.
Like King, Holloway spends her days meeting people in the community: Cataloguing resources, giving presentations, attending health fairs, visiting churches and parks and other local spaces.
She measures her own success in a simple way: if she sees someone join the WIC program after she connects with them in the community.
“Even if it’s one or two people, and they tell me how successful the program was, and their child graduated from the program, that is helpful,” she said.
As insiders who “look and sound like the people we work with,” community health workers help build the trust that can lead to these outcomes, Padilla said in the webinar.
They know how to address specific concerns from a specific community with personal experience — unlike a clinical provider who may not understand the living situation of their patients, Wagner, with The University of North Texas Health Science Center, said.
“Providers sometimes give people instructions, but they have no idea when those people get home, whether they have the money to buy that medication, whether they have transportation to go get that prescription, whether they have food to take the prescription with, whether they have electricity,” she said. “All of these barriers play a role in compliance.”
As a result, she said, a patient who doesn’t follow through with treatment may be labeled “non-compliant.”
“But it really isn’t that they are intentionally not being compliant; it’s that they don’t have the understanding, the culture or the resources to support what it is we’re asking them to do.”
Community health workers not only come from the communities they serve, they’ve often personally experienced the disease they’re trying to address. During the webinar, Padilla called it “lived experience.”
“That opens the door to additional knowledge about resources that are available,” she said. “We’ve been there — a lot of times — and done that.”
Becoming a community health worker in Texas
In 2007, King felt a lump. She was 45, a real estate broker and single mom to two daughters in high school. When her scans confirmed cancer, she waited until Christmas break to tell them.
Over the next year, she went through surgery and chemotherapy, lost her hair, and learned the intricacies of paying for cancer. When her first bill came, it was nearly $40,000, and King had no insurance.
So, she asked about options. She found government insurance for high-risk patients. She found a financial navigator at Moncrief Cancer Institute who helped her get her bills down. And at the end of the day, her surgeon, plastic surgeon and anesthesiologist agreed to provide her care at no cost.
“The moral of my story is to reach out and look for resources,” she said. “There’s people out there, they can’t pay for their medicine. They don’t have insurance. So because they don’t have insurance, they don’t look for resources … You don’t have to have insurance. You just have to open up and ask. Look for it.”
“The moral of my story is to reach out and look for resources,”
– Carlene King, community health worker at Cancer Care Services
During her treatment, a social worker kept telling her about Cancer Care Services, a local nonprofit that provides support to cancer patients, survivors and their caregivers for free. She was uninterested — she figured her income from her real estate work was too high. Then the woman told her about the massages.
“They actually try to figure out how to help you,” King said. And when you walk in, “everybody’s like family.”
Cancer Care Services ended up giving her massages for free — and paying her insurance premiums. She proclaimed their goodness in everyday conversations in the years that followed and, in 2019, they hired her as a community health worker.
King doesn’t usually share her cancer story with people — it’s not about her, she said, and her experience will differ from another person’s. But, she shares the resources she learned along the way. And if it weren’t for her cancer, she wouldn’t be doing the work she’s doing.
Fatu Holloway has been a community health worker since 2011. (Cristian ArguetaSoto | Fort Worth Report)
Holloway grew up in Liberia in the 1960s. She remembers trailing the women in her community to the local market. She watched how they cared for neighborhood kids, even the children that weren’t their own. It was a “turning point” in her life, she said; before then, she’d wanted to be a nun.
She carried the communal spirit of her childhood — she had “lots of mothers and fathers growing up” — to northern California, where she moved to escape Liberia after the country’s coup in 1980.
As a young woman moving through the U.S. for the first time, she didn’t know how to navigate the health system when she became pregnant. A new friend who happened to be a midwife helped educate her, and that experience of advocacy still informs Holloway’s work.
“One of the things that I do and we do is advocate for people like me who didn’t know anything about the healthcare system and didn’t know anything about health,” she said.
How to become a community health worker in Texas:
In Texas, any resident who’s 16 or older can become a community health worker after completing 160 hours of training in the eight “core competencies,” things like the ability to teach and stay abreast of local resources. People who’ve accumulated at least 1,000 hours of community health work services within the past three years can also be certified based on their experience.
Holloway followed her then-husband to Texas and became a medical assistant. When the time came for her to choose nursing or something else, she knew she wanted to keep tabs on a family’s health after they left the hospital. She became a community health worker in 2011.
Like King, Holloway harnesses her training and her own experiences as an immigrant in a new system to inform her work. Still, she said, it’s never about her.
“I bring my story (to work), but I don’t let their story be my story, because everybody has their own story,” she said. “My story helps me to be able to be a better community health worker. Every day, I’m a work in progress.”
Alexis Allison is the health reporter at the Fort Worth Report. Her position is supported by a grant from Texas Health Resources. Contact her by email or via Twitter. At the Fort Worth Report, news decisions are made independently of our board members and financial supporters. Read more about our editorial independence policy here.
This article first appeared on Fort Worth Report and is republished here under a Creative Commons license.
Volunteers make the world go ‘round! Let’s celebrate Nancy Love, who has been a wonderful Cancer Care Services volunteer for nearly 5 years, with her Cancer Care volunteer story! Nancy was born, raised, and currently lives in Fort Worth, Texas. She is a retired elementary math teacher who served over 30 years in FWISD. (We love our teachers!) When she was diagnosed with ovarian cancer in December 2013, Nancy was overwhelmed by the word CANCER. Our counselor, Annie, helped Nancy cope with her cancer diagnosis and listened with a kind ear.
After retirement, Nancy decided to give back by volunteering for Cancer Care Services. She has loved helping cancer patients and their families through all of our services and events. Nancy remembers answering calls at the receptionist desk one day, and on the other end of the phone was a 25-year-old man who had just been diagnosed with a brain tumor. He felt so lost and confused about how to navigate the medical system. Through tears, he admitted that he didn’t know where to get help. Nancy connected him with a social worker who helped him understand his situation and navigate his new diagnosis. Nancy played an important part in helping this young man find HELP and HOPE!
As a former patient herself, Nancy is empathetic to those who have been diagnosed with cancer.
Nancy says, “We all go through cancer experiences differently, but the one thing we all have in common is the ‘C’ word.”
Nancy is a proud volunteer and advocate for Cancer Care, so she encourages others to join her! For Nancy, the best part of volunteering is meeting AMAZING people along the way!
Thank you for being an inspiring volunteer, Nancy! Cancer Care Services is blessed to have you as part of our family! If you would like to become a volunteer like Nancy, please fill out our online Volunteer Application.
On April 24th, 2021 Cancer Care Services hosted our annual AYA Retreat: Camp Gold 2021, at Camp El Tesoro in Granbury, Texas. The weather was absolutely perfect, and the day was, what I like to call simply MAGICAL!
We had 20 participants in attendance, and that included their guests. We had two campers, plus their guests, who had to pull out last minute due to not feeling well because of chemo they had that week. Plus 9 volunteers from Cancer Care Services and Rutledge Cancer Foundation.
Staff members who joined us were Tori, Tamika, and Kayla, who did an EXCELLENT job leading our group discussion. Everyone enjoyed hiking, canoeing, kayaking, archery, the ropes course, group time, and meditation.
All day, every participant kept thanking us for making this event happen. Throughout the day, participants would express how glad they were to finally connect with fellow AYA’s (Adolescent and Young Adults) because like several of our clients, they spent most of 2020 in isolation and didn’t have the opportunity to meet others going through the same thing.
Several participants this year had either just wrapped up treatment, or are still on treatment, currently. They all connected with each other INSTANTLY and absolutely made friendships that will go on past this weekend (at dinner they were passing around a pen and paper to get everyone’s name and number like they were 10 at summer camp! So cute!).
If I could describe this weekend in one word, it would be THANKFUL! Thankful for the opportunities that 2021 is bringing us, and for being able to have in-person events again.
It was beyond evident that they are needed for our clients to feel a connection with others, now more than ever. Specifically, our AYA’s who crave connection with their peers. This is already a population that gets overlooked, and they definitely felt known, seen, heard, and loved this weekend!
For future Camps and Connect Events, please check out our events calendar!
Imagine the challenge of facing cancer, adjusting to new dietary restrictions, and finding the time and energy to cook for a family. Cancer Care’s August 2021 Connect Night featured Becca with Tarrant Area Food Bank, who taught our clients healthy and easy-to-make meals that the whole family can help cook!
Brianna, our child therapist, talked about how different types of foods can boost moods and calm anxiety. Then, the kids got to carefully slice cucumbers and strawberries to make a delicious cucumber and strawberry vinaigrette salad. Together, the families crafted their southwest pinwheels stuffed with chicken, spinach, and a mouth-watering cream cheese mixture. Yum!
Connect Night events build social connections by enjoying FUN activities together while teaching COPING skills. Each event has a therapeutic component combined with an engaging theme. Through the dedication of Cancer Care’s staff and volunteers, we have also made our Connect Nights more inviting and accessible for our Spanish-speaking families by offering Spanish translation.
In addition to making events more accessible, we have safely hosted every Connect Night in person this year, except for January! Clients were thankful for the commitment our staff, donors, and volunteers made toward creating a safe environment for people of all ages to form bonds within their own families and with others who are also dealing with cancer.
Supporters like youensure that those impacted by cancer in our community have FREE social, emotional, and educational programming to help them cope with cancer while expanding their support system. Connect Nights are just one of the many ways your donation brings hope and healing.
Donate early or on North Texas Giving Day, and you can become part of a regional campaign that uplifts the mission of Cancer Care Services. Spread the word by posting about your donation and using the hashtag #NTxGivingDay on social media!
Thank you for making sure that no one has to cope with cancer alone.
An incredibly brave and kind group of campers blessed us at CampCARE this year! Many campers experienced their first time catching a fish, riding a horse, and conquering the challenge course. Every child approached these experiences with enthusiasm and wonder, often surprising themselves with what they were capable of achieving.
New friends danced together, cheered each other on, and formed lasting bonds! And just as valuable as the friendships made were the skills learned during play therapy sessions held by Brianna, our child therapist. Brianna taught the campers ways to cope and share their emotions surrounding the cancer diagnosis of their loved one.
The children, volunteers, and staff brought the spirit of CampCARE to life through endless jokes, laughter, and SUPPORT. The last day of camp was full of bittersweet goodbyes… but there was also JOY because they will see their new friends again at Cancer Care!
Kaleigh and Aiden, two siblings whose mother is going through cancer treatment, made special connections with the other campers- and they learned healthy ways to process and express feelings with their mom. So CampCARE didn’t just change Kaleigh and Aiden’s lives, but their mother’s too. The family forged a new bond of HOPE and LOVE through learning how to cope TOGETHER.
Thank you to YMCA Camp Carter for providing a safe and fun environment for our clients, staff, and volunteers!
AND thank you to our amazing sponsors…
Jane Oderberg, Jason and Kelsey Pitts, Julie Vincent, Shaw’s Patio Bar & Grill, and Connecting for Conquerors for providing lunch to our hardworking campers and volunteers!
Our staff always makes us proud with their achievements and passion! Recently, Annie Presley, LCSW, became a Certified Grief Counseling Specialist (CGCS). Wow! The Certified Grief Counselor Specialist Evergreen Certification covers counseling for grief and loss through all stages of life.
Annie gained her Master’s in Social Work in 2005, became a clinical social worker in 2015, and has worked for Cancer Care Services as a counselor for over 15 years. Because Cancer Care Services is here to help EVERYONE impacted by cancer – Annie helps patients, caregivers, and family members cope with the emotional trauma caused by cancer.
She believes it is important to continue learning, especially about grief, because it is present in everyone’s life in various forms. Annie creates a safe place in her counseling sessions so her clients will feel comfortable working through their anxiety, loneliness, crisis situations, or grief. We are truly thankful to have staff like Annie, who are always looking for ways to better serve!
If you would like to receive counseling or other forms of support, please contact us at 817-923-0651 and ask to speak with a social worker email us at Info@CancerCareServices.org, or fill out our online form.
Cancer Care Services’ Connect program brings people together so they can give and receive peer support. In addition to the social benefits (which reduce loneliness and isolation), we also incorporate therapeutic activities to build coping skills. Consequently, each Connect program is fun AND healing! So unsurprisingly, May’s Connect Night featured music, laughter – and a bit of a ruckus!
May 2021 Connect Night
Nick, a new client who is a young adult, attended by himself and ended up at a table surrounded by five empty chairs. Megan, our Client Connection Manager (and social butterfly), never lets anyone sit alone! But while making her way over to Nick’s table, she realized he wasn’t there.
Instead, Nick had joined the kids in tossing a bright pink frisbee – and their smiles lit up the evening! The kids ran around, giggles filling the air, as Nick brought much-needed sunshine to the event (after a week of rain). Nick even blessed the parents by allowing them to enjoy a quick dinner without their kids.
Music Night inspired connections across all ages. Every client immersed themselves in music as they picked an emotion to add to the songs they sang. They later created their very own thunderstorm with their instruments!
Our volunteers warmly welcomed 32 individuals, including a new Spanish-speaking family! In the spirit of supporting a local business and neighbor, everyone was given a catered boxed meal from Carpenter’s.
“It was fun trying something new, and music night will definitely be back!” said Megan. She can’t wait for our next Connect event, so for information about attending or volunteering at future Connect Nights, please email Megan at Megan@CancerCareServices.org.
According to many who work in oncology, immunotherapy “is the future” of cancer care. The American Society of Clinical Oncology defines immunotherapy (also called biologic therapy) as a type of cancer treatment that boosts the body’s natural defenses to fight cancer.
But sadly, the miracle is often unattainable because the cost of cancer treatment can be unaffordable unless the patient is fortunate enough to have an insurer willing to approve expensive coverage. For instance, the well-known drug Keytruda (pembrolizumab) is priced at $4,800 per dose (100mg/4mL vial). The drug is typically administered every 3 weeks, for a period as long as two years, depending upon the patient’s response and other conditions. The cost of cancer treatment quickly adds up to tens of thousands of dollars!
While we sadly cannot offer a solution that would make these new cancer therapies affordable for all, we feel strongly that we cannot lose sight of those who are impacted by the disease today, here and now, in our community. While there are hundreds upon hundreds of research entities across the nation planning new strategies in the war against cancer, the battle on the front line rages on. You likely know someone saying, “I’ve got it – now, today. What do I do?”
Cancer Care Services can provide a safety net (for those who qualify for financial assistance), a cushion to soften the blow when people find themselves up against this devastating disease. Even with health insurance, it’s all too common to hear stories of entire life savings being spent on the cost of cancer treatment. (The number one cause of personal bankruptcy is medical debt.) And you may be surprised to know that Cancer Care Services provides navigation services for everyone, no matter your income level.
The truth of the matter is that a cancer diagnosis can throw anyone into sudden, unexpected, and debilitating financial jeopardy. The financial stress of cancer is proven to increase the risk of death in cancer patients by more than 70%. That “financial toxicity” leads to patients worrying that, even if they survive, they’ll have nothing. Or worse yet, the longer they survive, the less their family will have. These are deep, dark fears that, honestly, you can help Cancer Care Services alleviate. Our team of social workers provide expert guidance that is difficult to find in an out-of-hospital setting.
So while researchers are doing amazing things in the lab, we are proud to be doing some amazing things right here in Tarrant County. We invite you to come take a tour of our offices and meet some of the social workers and clients who can tell you their real-life stories. Because reducing the devastating impact of cancer on an individual’s life can have a healing effect as profound as any miracle drug.
