The Cancer Center at Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center (BIDMC) announced the launch of a new online community that will offer support and information for people with cancer and their friends, families, and caregivers.
BIDMC Cancer Community, part of the national CancerConnect network, is an open platform that offers discussion groups for users to support each other and share their experiences living with cancer. The discussions are moderated by seven experienced BIDMC Cancer Center staff, including oncology social workers and oncology dieticians.
“While clinicians and scientists here at BIDMC work together to promote excellence in cancer care, we also want to foster a vibrant community that allows everyone touched by cancer to encourage and learn from each other,” said Manuel Hidalgo, MD, PhD, director of the Leon V. and Marilyn L. Rosenberg Clinical Cancer Center and chief of the Division of Hematology-Oncology at BIDMC. “Our new BIDMC Cancer Community will help us do just that.”
“Living with cancer is a collaborative, communal effort,” said BIDMC’s manager of oncology social work Hester Hill Schnipper, LICSW, BCD, OSW-C. Hill Schnipper is also a breast cancer survivor and a discussion moderator on the new BIDMC Cancer Community. “Our vision is for this online community to grow into a center of activity for support groups, ‘ask-the-expert’ sessions, educational videos, and other services that will help patients and their families living with cancer.”
For more information, visit www.cancercommunity.bidmc.org.
This article was adapted from information provided by BIDMC.