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NCCS - National Coalition for Cancer Survivorship
  • About
        • About Us

        • NCCS is the oldest cancer survivor-led non-profit organization in America. We advocate for quality cancer care for all touched by cancer.

        • About NCCS

        • Our Mission
        • What is Advocacy?Learn about the different types of cancer advocacy, from personal advocacy to public interest advocacy.
        • Our HistoryRead how NCCS’s leaders coined the term “cancer survivor,” and established the nation’s first survivor-led non-profit organization.
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        • Make A GiftSupport our mission of quality cancer care for all with a gift to NCCS.
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    • NCCS News
    • Advocate SpotlightEach month, NCCS highlights a cancer survivorship advocate, sharing their story and the work they do in their communities.
    • Policy CommentsRead NCCS’s comments to Congress, HHS, and other federal policymakers in Washington, DC on proposed rules and legislation.
    • Issue StatementsRead NCCS statements on pressing issues and developments in Washington affecting cancer survivors and their families.
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        • Policy

        • Public policy is government action, in the form of legislation, regulation, funding, and other actions. Public policy affects people with cancer and the cancer care system in many ways.

        • Our Policy Priorities

        • Quality Cancer CareQuality cancer care is essential for patients. Learn how NCCS and others define quality.
        • Access to CareNCCS believes cancer care and clinical trials should be affordable and accessible to everyone.
        • Health EquityThe cancer experience is not the same for everyone. NCCS works on policy efforts to reduce disparities in outcomes.
        • Current Issues

        • Comprehensive Cancer Survivorship Act (CCSA)The CCSA is a large comprehensive bill introduced in Congress that aims to improve quality of care in all stages of a diagnosis.
        • Cancer Care Planning and Communications Act (CCPCA)CCPCA is a bill that would provide a billable Medicare service code for cancer care planning.
        • DIEP Flap AccessNCCS advocates for protection of access to DIEP Flap Breast Reconstruction Surgery for all breast cancer survivors.
        • Policy CommentsRead NCCS’s comments to Congress, HHS, and other federal policymakers in Washington, DC on proposed rules and legislation.
        • Issue StatementsRead NCCS statements on pressing issues and developments in Washington affecting cancer survivors and their families.
        • Quality Measurement Research
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        • Get Involved

        • Whether you’re new to cancer advocacy or already have experience as an advocate, there are numerous ways you can get involved with NCCS.

        • Join NCCS

        • Cancer Policy and Advocacy Team (CPAT)CPAT is a program for survivors and caregivers to learn about pressing issues that affect quality cancer care, in order to be engaged as advocates in public policy.
        • Elevating SurvivorshipA patient-led initiative — NCCS mentors advocates (Elevate Ambassadors) to fill vital gaps in survivorship care in their community.
        • Survivorship ChampionsAn NCCS program for clinicians and researchers who are interested in improving care for cancer survivors.
        • Advocacy OpportunitiesThis page provides a list of upcoming events, webinars, conferences, and advocacy campaigns from NCCS and other leading cancer organizations.
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        • State of Cancer Survivorship

        • NCCS conducts an annual State of Survivorship Survey, in partnership with Edge Research, to delve into the cancer patient and survivor journey. This study captures a range of perspectives to better understand how NCCS can support its mission to advocate for quality cancer care for all.

        • Reports by Year

        • 2023 Survey ReportThe 2023 Survey explored the caregiver experience for the first time, and features new data on the effect of cancer treatment on employment.
        • 2022 Survey ReportThe 2022 Survey found significant disparities in cancer care that impact people of color, young adults, women, and those with metastatic cancer, at higher rates.
        • 2021 Survey ReportThe 2021 Survey demonstrated that when patients receive quality care, have excellent support, and have financial resources, they are more likely to have positive outcomes.
        • 2020 Survey ReportIn the 2020 Survey, survivors reported that their care team is not helpful at addressing some common side effects of their cancer such as fatigue, anxiety, and depression.
  • Survivorship Checklist
        • Cancer Survivorship Checklist

        • The Cancer Survivorship Checklist is designed to be a simple, straightforward tool patients and caregivers can use as a guide for information critical to their care wherever they are on the cancer care continuum.

        • Start Your Cancer Survivorship Checklist
        • Survivorship Checklist Guide for Clinicians
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        • Survivorship ResourcesA collection of resources that provide information about navigating the cancer journey.
        • Cancer RehabilitationA supportive health care service that helps improve a person’s functioning during and after cancer treatment.
        • Integrative OncologyA field that combines traditional cancer treatments with therapies that support a person’s natural healing ability.
  • Resources
        • Resources

        • NCCS provides a wide variety of resources for both patients and caregivers.

        • Resources for Survivors and Caregivers

        • Cancer Survival ToolboxA free, award-winning audio program created by leading cancer organizations to help people better meet & understand the challenges of their illness.
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ASTRO COVID 19 Webinar

Radiation Oncology Care During COVID-19: How Are Cancer Patients Getting Life-Saving Radiation Treatment?

May 11, 2020/in Cancer News, Cancer Policy Blog, NCCS News COVID-19, Quality Cancer Care, Shared Decision-Making NCCS News

The National Coalition for Cancer Survivorship (NCCS) has been collecting questions from covid-19 patients and survivors on the coronavirus crisis and is addressing these questions through a series of webinars and podcasts.

Leading experts from the American Society for Radiation Oncology (ASTRO) Ronald D. Ennis, MD and Louis Potters, MD joined NCCS CEO Shelley Fuld Nasso to discuss the effects of the COVID-19 pandemic on radiation oncology practices and answer questions from cancer patients. NCCS is pleased to co-present this conversation with ASTRO.

The conversation focused on how cancer patients can receive life-saving radiation treatment while implementing safety and quality measures during the COVID-19 pandemic. Shelley Fuld Nasso also posed important questions and concerns from cancer survivors about their care. The discussion reminded us of an important theme during this time: cancer does not wait.

Together, we hope this discussion informs cancer survivors, and their loved ones, about how to get the help they need and live well during and after cancer treatment.

I think the positive story in this is that, as we’ve gone through this—and we’ve been in a very busy, intense COVID-positive environment—at the end of the day, we really do not need to compromise the care of our patients.Louis Potters, MD

Is It Safe to Receive Radiation Treatment?

Dr. Ennis said he is proud of how the radiation oncology community came together during this time and says that their first goal was ensuring the safety of patients and staff and that “goal number two was to continue patient care.”

Dr. Ennis said that in most cases, radiation treatment does not affect a patient’s immune system or their odds of surviving COVID-19. But he stressed that patients need to have that conversation with their physicians:

Radiation by itself these days is given generally to very small volumes of tissue, and the immune system is very minimally affected or not affected at all. So anyone who has that concern, obviously, needs to speak to their particular physician about their case, but writ large radiotherapy as done for most cancers will not impact your immune system.

The one exception to that of significance is when radiation is combined together with chemotherapy, which is common. A significant minority of patients are treated that way with curative intent, and in those situations, both the chemo and the radiation can contribute to some weakening of the immune system. In that situation, obviously a conversation needs to happen about whether it’s still appropriate and best to proceed or best to hold off for a period of time to allow the COVID pandemic to get under better control, but it is important not to assume that cancer treatment will be dangerous for you. There are studies coming out suggesting that for many situations, cancer treatment does not impact how someone does should they have COVID, nor make them more predisposed to get it. But there are certainly some situations where it is an issue and in the end, it’s a conversation between the patient and his health care team.

Dr. Potters talked about how radiology practices have been able bounce back quicker than other areas of cancer care:

When you look at the three legs of cancer care—surgery, radiation, and chemotherapy—I think in a lot of ways radiation has turned out to be the most resilient. We’re not reliant on the operating rooms—which in a sort of binary manner just closed overnight and limited the surgical oncological approach for a lot of patients—and radiation is a local treatment without the immunosuppression that is typical with chemotherapy. So our patients are tolerating care really without atypical side effects or risk that they otherwise wouldn’t have.

That’s not to say that we aren’t monitoring and assessing our patients carefully. One of the things that we recognized was that we certainly don’t want our patients during treatment to need to go to the hospital, whether it’s an emergency room for evaluation or the need to be hospitalized because of treatment-related morbidity or complications. And so we put into place a very aggressive weekly management program for patients at high-risk—the head and neck [patients], some of the pelvic floor patients, some of the lung patients, and that’s really worked very well in terms of maintaining fluid status, duration, nutrition, and managing of side effects. …

I think the positive story in this is that, as we’ve gone through this—and we’ve been in a very busy, intense COVID-positive environment—at the end of the day, we really do not need to compromise the care of our patients.

About the Guest Speakers

Ronald D. Ennis, MD is a radiation oncologist at the Cancer Institute of New Jersey. He has expertise in prostate cancer, genitourinary malignancies and gynecologic malignancies. He has extensive experience with high dose-rate and low dose-rate brachytherapy, stereotactic body radiosurgery (a.k.a. “Cyberknife”), intensity modulated radiotherapy, three-dimensional conformal radiotherapy, image-guided radiotherapy, hormone therapy, surveillance and survivorship. Dr. Ennis strongly believes in a compassionate patient-centered approach, finding the optimal care for each patient taking into account his/her individual needs, preferences and medical conditions.

Louis Potters, MD is chairman of the Department of Radiation Medicine at Northwell Health and professor at the Zucker School of Medicine at Hofstra/Northwell. He is also immediate past Chair of the Northwell Health Physician Partners Board of Governors and executive Committee. Dr. Potters is a practicing radiation oncologist and an internationally recognized expert in the management and treatment of prostate cancer. Board-certified in internal medicine and radiation oncology, Dr. Potters oversees one of the largest radiation oncology departments with a faculty and staff devoted to excellent patient care, research and the education of tomorrow’s oncologists.

ASTRO COVID-19 resource page for providers and patients »


More About Cancer and COVID-19

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Tags: cancer care, Cancer Survivorship, coronavirus, COVID-19, covid-19 webinar, Decision-Making, radiation
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Latest News

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Link to: Survivorship Champions

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Survivorship Champions is a program for all clinicians and researchers, both oncology and primary care, who are interested in improving survivorship care and primary care’s role in caring for cancer survivors.

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Link to: Cancer Policy and Advocacy Team (CPAT)

Join CPAT

The NCCS Cancer Policy & Advocacy Team (CPAT) is a program for survivors and caregivers to learn about pressing policy issues that affect quality cancer care in order to be engaged as advocates in public policy around the needs of cancer survivors.

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Link to: Survivor Stories

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NCCS represents the millions of Americans who share a common experience – living with, through and beyond a cancer diagnosis. By sharing your story of how you have been touched by cancer, you are supporting the national cancer survivorship movement.

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  • About
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Harmar Brereton, MD

Founder
Northeast Regional Cancer Institute

 

“Perhaps one of the most impactful collaborations in Dr. Brereton’s extraordinary career remains his early work and long friendship with Ellen Stovall. Through him, and in turn through the thousands of lives he has touched, Ellen’s work continues, and her mission lives on.”

—Karen M. Saunders
President, Northeast Regional Cancer Institute