With a portion of this year's proceeds St. Margaret's Hospital Guild, in partnership with Wishard Health Services, will establish a new program at Wishard, called EMBRACE (Encouragine Meaning and Balance in a Renewing and Comforting Environment.) EMBRACE will move beyond the traditional support group model of weekly meetings. With childcare provided, EMBRACE plans to utilize a corps of volunteers who will serve as personal one-on-one “support partners.” In addition to these weekly support groups facilitated by healthcare professionals, support partners will help women with transportation needs, assist with obtaining items such as wigs and breast prosthetics and provide additional guidance, helping to ease the burden of the fight against cancer. The corps of support partners will be composed of both cancer survivors and women whose lives have been touched by cancer. These volunteers will be women who understand the cancer journey and can truly partner with newly diagnosed women, helping them through the overwhelming emotions and information that come with a cancer diagnosis. Support partners will provide encouragement and address many of the concerns confronting women with cancer – from communication, insecurity, body image and relationships to managing stress and balancing treatment with work and family life.
As if a diagnosis of cancer isn’t frightening enough, the majority of women receiving treatment at Wishard Health Services are already faced with significant challenges in life, including limited financial means and, often, lack of health insurance. Through the use of its dedicated support partners, EMBRACE will provide free services that literally wrap around these women, who many times have no other support systems to count on.
Women who are diagnosed with cancer experience overwhelming emotional and social challenges. No woman should face cancer alone.
