In honor of Breast Cancer Awareness Month and World Hospice & Palliative Care Day, ASCO and its partners—the International Association for Hospice & Palliative Care; Tómatelo a Pecho, A.C.; the University of Miami Sylvester Comprehensive Cancer Center and Institute for Advanced Study of the Americas; Caribbean Palliative Care Association; Jamaica Cancer Care & Research Institute; and Worldwide Hospice Palliative Care Alliance—have launched a series of webinars to transform survivorship and palliative care in breast cancer.
The four-part series, Breast Cancer: Closing the Divide Between Survivorship and Palliative Care, is designed for researchers, clinicians, civil society, and patients and advocates in low-, middle,- and high-income countries. The webinars focus on advanced breast cancer and long-term survival, and emphasize the importance of quality of life and equitable access to palliative care, pain and symptom relief, and holistic and community-based support for patients and their families.
The presenters include advocates, scientists, clinicians, and people living with or who have lived with breast cancer. The faculty represent leading oncology centers and health systems, global cancer initiatives, universities, and national and regional palliative care organizations.
In a video presentation by Julie Gralow, MD, FACP, FASCO, Chief Medical Officer and Executive Vice President of ASCO, Dr. Gralow gives thanks to the creators and organizers of these webinars and reiterates ASCO’s position on the importance of offering palliative care services early in a patient’s diagnosis.
“ASCO believes that patients with cancer, whether inpatient or outpatient, should receive dedicated palliative care services offered early in the disease course and integrated concurrently with active cancer treatment,” she commented. “Caregivers of patients with cancer can also benefit from palliative care services. Referring patients to a dedicated interdisciplinary palliative care team is ideal, but throughout this webinar series we’ve discussed innovative models of providing palliative care in settings where specialists don’t exist.”
“Our goal in this series, which combines recognition of World Hospice & Palliative Care Day with Breast Cancer Awareness Month, is to be able to ensure that all of the momentum that is behind providing supportive care and improving the lives of patients with breast cancer, particularly those living with metastatic disease, can also propel our work on improving the acceptance and accessibility of palliative care globally,” Dr. Gralow concluded.
Watch the webinars:
Breast Cancer: Closing the Divide Between Survivorship and Palliative Care: For Researchers
Breast Cancer: Closing the Divide Between Survivorship and Palliative Care: For Clinicians
Breast Cancer: Closing the Divide Between Survivorship and Palliative Care: For Civil Society
