Support Services

A cancer diagnosis not only impacts you, it also impacts your entire family and affects a variety of issues, including appearance, nutrition and more. The Susan O’Brien Fischer Cancer Center team takes a holistic, multi-disciplinary approach in providing the information and support services cancer patients and their families need, including a Patient Resource Center through the American Cancer Society.

Cancer Support Resources

American Cancer Society Days

You can be screened for eligibility for travel assistance (ACS travel voucher), wigs, supplements, disease-specific support groups and other programs from 9 to 11 am the first and third Wednesday of each month in the Cancer Center lobby. An ACS community representative conducts these screenings on ACS Days in the Cancer Center, making it easier for you to find what you are looking for all under one roof.

Nutritional Supplement Program

Partnering with the Bothwell Foundation on this patient support program provides free nutritional supplements (Ensure) if you are undergoing cancer therapy that requires nutritional support or if you have long-term nutritional effects related to your disease or treatment.

This program inventories and distributes supplements through the Cancer Center after your enrollment. You will receive one case of supplement per month for as long as you need it. You can request nutritional support during your follow-up appointments.

I Can Cope

I Can Cope through the American Cancer Society also provides an avenue for you and your family to find out more about cancer and related issues.

Cancer Support Group

The goal of Bothwell’s Cancer Support Group is to help patients cope with their illness and live more effectively. Meetings are held online in Bothwell’s virtual meeting room at 4 pm. Dates and more information can be found on our support page.

Personal Health Manager

This individualized, disease-specific patient support and education portfolio program is free to all of Bothwell’s cancer patients. The American Cancer Society chose Bothwell’s oncology program to be the first to launch the Personal Health Manager Program in Missouri.

Under the program, you will receive a complimentary ACS binder in which to organize thoughts, appointments and other information relating to your disease, treatments, side effects, finances and psychosocial and coping resources. Each new patient at the Cancer Center receives a binder during the first visit.

For more information, please contact the radiation oncology nurse at 660.827.9538 or the Cancer Center nurse at 660. 829.7792.

Reach to Recovery

Breast cancer survivors volunteer to help those who have been diagnosed with breast cancer cope with their experience. The American Cancer Society sponsors the Reach to Recovery program, which is led by specially trained volunteers and breast cancer survivors.

The volunteers give your and your family members the opportunity to discuss fears and concerns and ask questions of someone who has survived breast cancer and gone on to live a productive life.

Reach to Recovery volunteers are trained to provide support and up-to-date information, including literature for spouses, children, friends and other loved ones. They also can provide breast cancer patients with a temporary breast form, surgical bra, information on permanent prostheses, and a resource list of where those items are available in the community.

For more information on the Reach to Recovery program, contact Jeanette Reisinger, RN, OCN, CHPN, or Mary Talbott, RN, OCN, in the Cancer Center at 660.829.7792. For patients undergoing surgery, the service also is offered by an anesthesia clinic nurse, who may be reached at 660.826.8833, ext. 825.