In 2008, UCSF patients and volunteers, many of them breast cancer survivors, created an event to raise money and build awareness for UCSF’s breast cancer program—Give Breast Cancer the Boot. The 2014 event engaged over 250 patients and community friends and raised over $610,000!
The largest portion of fund from Give Breast Cancer the Boot were made available through a special competitive request for proposals to UCSF breast cancer physicians and staff to encourage new projects that will have immediate benefit to breast cancer patients at the UCSF Helen Diller Family Comprehensive Cancer Center. Such projects focus on quality of life, new treatment options, patient navigation and decision support, survivorship, among others. The projects described below were funded by this special funding opportunity and will help patients with breast cancer live longer and better lives.
Expanding Patient Support Internships at the UCSF Breast Care Center
Decision Services, UCSF’s Breast Care Center patient support program, provides critical services to newly diagnosed cancer patients. Decision Services educates patients to assist them as they make decisions about their care, which helps reduce overall stress and anxiety during treatment. This program will expand patient support in the Breast Care Center by funding recruitment and training for ten student interns. Under the supervision of a program manager, these trained volunteers will provide additional assistance to patients during medical visits—including accompanying patients to medical appointments and assisting with note-taking and audio-recording—to improve patients’ long-term physical and mental health. As the program grows, our goal is to develop Decision Services into a shared service with other UCSF Cancer Center clinics.
Cancer Genetics Training for Medical Interpreters
Genetic counseling and screening have become the mainstream standard of care for women at risk of hereditary breast, ovarian and other kinds of cancer. While genetic counseling concepts can be difficult to understand, language barriers create even greater challenges for the growing number of patients with limited English language skills. Trained medical interpreters can significantly reduce communication barriers so that everyone may benefit from genetic risk services. However, learning complex genetic counseling terminology can be particularly difficult for interpreters. This project will provide cancer genetics curriculum development and training to medical interpreters at UCSF and San Francisco General Hospital. Interpreters who can facilitate meaningful, accurate discussion between patients and genetic counselors will increase patient knowledge and enhance a patient’s ability to make critical decisions regarding their health, regardless of the patient’s native language.
Fulfilling the Promise of CARE
CARE (Cancer Awareness, Resources and Education) is a community-driven education and support program that empowers underserved patients and their families to manage the experience of cancer. Serving about 300 patients annually, CARE offers no cost health education and mental health support to San Francisco General Hospital’s diverse group of cancer patients. The demand for CARE services is great. This project will support a program manager who will develop and implement cancer health education programs and identify, recruit and retain prospective CARE participants. An active program manager will allow CARE to expand its mission to promote and sustain wellness to better serve San Francisco General Hospital’s cancer patients and their families.
A Multifaceted Intervention to Evaluate and Address Fear of Recurrence and Reduce Distress Among Breast Cancer Survivors
The Breast Care Center has been a leader within the UCSF Cancer Center in developing programs and clinical services for cancer survivors. After a breast cancer diagnosis, fear of recurrence is one of the most significant concerns for women. To address this critical issue, this project will develop and expand services that aim to reduce negative thoughts and feelings in early stage cancer patients as well as women transitioning to normal life after breast cancer treatment. Our goal is to provide services that will reduce anxiety, distress and fear, and improve the lives of breast cancer patients in the long term. Programs include group education and group therapy sessions to directly address fears and improve quality of life among breast cancer survivors. Once these programs are established in the Breast Care Center, our goal is to expand these services to the UCSF Cancer Center as a whole.
Implementation of a Comprehensive Breast Cancer-Related Lymphedema Prevention Program
Lymphedema—the accumulation of fluid in the breast or arm due to the damage or removal of lymphatic vessels and lymph nodes—is a chronic, progressive and incurable condition. Breast cancer treatment may cause lymphedema in as many as 1 in 5 women. In the United States, more than 600,000 women experience lymphedema’s potentially disabling symptoms including swelling, pain, loss of joint mobility, loss of arm function and recurring infection. This project will implement a comprehensive screening and prevention program for UCSF Breast Care Center patients at risk for breast cancer-related lymphedema. The prevention program includes an assessment by a physical therapist, a group education session and an 8-week group exercise class for participants to learn upper extremity self-massage and strength training. To increase access to the program for more patients, videos will be available for those who are unable to attend in-person sessions.
The Advanced Breast Cancer Program at the UCSF Breast Care Center
Advanced Breast Cancer (ABC) is a comprehensive program at UCSF’s Breast Care Center designed to help patients clarify their goals and improve their quality of life through the course of their cancer journey. ABC specifically targets the needs of our Breast Care Center patients who receive a diagnosis of metastatic or incurable breast cancer and their families. The program has three major components: providing a patient navigator to improve patient-provider communication, developing UCSF-facilitated group workshops focused on coping and resilience, and placing a palliative care physician in the Breast Oncology Clinic. ABC will continue to improve the quality of care we provide as participants become more resilient and gain a greater feeling of control over their lives.
Eat to Live Project: Providing Nutrition Education and Nutrient Dense Foods to Patients in the Infusion Center
Working closely with our registered cancer dietitians and integrative medicine specialists, UCSF will promote healing for our Breast Care Center patients through the Eat to Live Project. This project will stock nutritious snacks at Mt. Zion’s Ida Friend Infusion Center, where our Breast Care Center patients receive their cancer treatments. Our healthy snack initiative provides comprehensive education about health and wellness, nutritious eating and healing during the patient’s chemotherapy treatments. The infusion center will offer a variety of nutrient dense foods and beverages such as oatmeal, applesauce, nuts, nut butter packs, energy bars, trail mix, miso soup and green and herbal teas. To further educate patients and their family members about the importance of healthier choices, staff will create a nutrition education board that will be updated regularly with new recipes, nutrition tips and information on managing side effects during treatment.