Video

Why the Cancer Caregiver Journey Cannot Be Overlooked When Discussing Patient Care

Heather Badt, CSC’s Executive Director of the Research & Training Institute, recently shared her personal perspective as a former patient and caregiver with CURE® and expanded on how those who care for loved ones with cancer often face their own unique challenges and require specialized resources themselves

Those who care for loved ones with cancer often face their own unique challenges and require specialized resources themselves, according to Cancer Support Community (CSC)’s 2020 Cancer Experience Registry Report. Because caregivers are a crucial part of the cancer care team, caring for them and addressing their needs is even more important.

Heather Badt, CSC’s Executive Director of the Research & Training Institute, recently shared her personal perspective as a former patient and caregiver with CURE® and expanded on how the report’s findings highlight the need for resources specially designed for caregivers.

For more news on cancer updates, research and education, don’t forget to subscribe to CURE®’s newsletters here.

Transcription:

I think what I'd love to do is also share on a personal note that I'm a former patient and caregiver, so my comments are coming from both a personal and a professional perspective.

And one of the reasons why (caring for the caregiver) is so critical is confronting cancer itself. We often overlook that the people living with cancer are the patient and the caregiver. It's a mindset that we have to collectively really shift.

It's well known that quality caregiving can lead to better patient outcomes, and that caregivers are often a critical player in the decision-making process. At CSC, we've learned that the caregivers’ journey can be as hard as the patients, and in our 2020 Registry Report, some of the highlights that we share are that caregivers are spending over 100 hours of care a week, and that many are showing a decline in their own personal health.

Half the caregivers in the report were concerned about balancing caregiving with other demands in their life. Three out of four wanted help understanding the patient's medical condition and treatment, but more than half also felt they were not prepared to care for the patient's emotional needs. We have to make sure that caregivers are reaching out for help and getting access to all these different types of resources.

Related Videos
Image of Dr. Salani.
Dr. Debu Tripathy is a professor and chairman of the Department of Breast Medical Oncology, Division of Cancer Medicine, The University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center, in Houston, and the editor-in-chief of CURE®.
Dr. Suneel Kamath is an assistant professor of medicine at the Cleveland Clinic Lerner College of Medicine of Case Western Reserve University, in Ohio.
Image of Dr. Fakih.
Dr. Catherine Wu is chief of the Division of Stem Cell Transplantation and Cellular Therapies at Dana-Farber Cancer Institute, and institute member at the Broad Institute of MIT and Harvard, in Boston, Massachusetts.
Dr. John Oertle discusses the key benefits to come from patients with cancer connecting with support networks, advocacy groups and resources.
Dr. Gabriel A. Brooks discussed the recent FDA product labeling update for Xeloda and 5-FU.
Dr. Alan Tan is the GU Oncology Lead at the Vanderbilt-Ingram Cancer Center in Nashville, Tennessee, as well as an associate professor in the Division of Hematology/Oncology at Vanderbilt University Medical Center and GU Executive Officer with the Alliance for Clinical Trials in Oncology.
Bald Doctor.
Dr. Anna Arthur is the Director of the Medical Nutrition Science Program, as well as a tenure-track Assistant Professor in the Department of Dietetics and Nutrition at the University of Kansas Medical Center.
Related Content