This is Part 1 in our 3-part coverage of the Employers Cancer Care Summit, held in February at Toronto’s Sutton Place Hotel. Watch for more coverage coming soon on BenefitsCanada.com.
Cancer is often described as a journey. For most people, it is a frightening trip into the unknown. Virtually everyone knows someone who has been affected by cancer, but just as we read about exotic locations, only the travellers truly understand the terrain.
Fortunately, in Canada, no one with cancer needs to undertake the journey alone. Healthcare professionals, family, friends and support groups can help individuals with cancer to navigate through diagnosis, treatment and recovery. Employers, too, have an important—and potentially life-saving—role to play.
On Feb. 22, 2012, the Employers Cancer Care Summit brought together plan sponsors at Toronto’s Sutton Place Hotel to learn about the challenges that cancer poses to their employees as patients, as well as the potential impact of new therapies and care models. From cancer awareness programs to assistance in accessing novel treatments, employers can help guide their workers through the often-confusing maze of options.
Supportive network
In 2003, when Kathy Barnard was diagnosed with Stage 4 malignant melanoma, she felt “lost in the universe,” as there are few resources available for people with this relatively rare form of cancer.
“I knew how important my support network of family and friends would be on my journey to survive, but I had no clue how important my employer’s role would be,” said Barnard. Fortunately, her employer at the time—the Insurance Corporation of British Columbia—offered a comprehensive benefits package, including long-term disability coverage. As a result, she was able to focus on her treatment without worrying about her finances. “Working for a wonderful corporation that offered great benefits gave me an extra leg-up to fight what was a very difficult disease.”
Barnard’s employer also offered other benefits that she didn’t use because she wasn’t aware of them. For example, she now realizes that counselling services covered by her company could have helped her entire family cope with her diagnosis and treatment. “I wish my employer had given me some information to remind me what great benefits were available to me,” she added.
Barnard said she will be forever scarred by the horrible emotional and financial toll of both the disease—which had metastasized to her liver, kidney and bone—and the treatment, which included chemotherapy and surgery. Vowing “never to leave anyone out in that horrible abyss,” she founded the Save Your Skin Foundation (saveyourskin.ca) in 2007, with the goal of promoting and financing education, treatment and awareness of skin cancer. That need for education extends to the workplace, since Barnard believes that most employers are more comfortable dealing with back injuries than with cancer. “It is so important for employers to understand a cancer patient’s and/or caregiver’s pathway in dealing with this type of illness, as it is imperative to their wellness,” she said.
Workplace impact
Dr. Christine Simmons couldn’t agree more. As a medical oncologist with St. Michael’s Hospital in Toronto, she recognizes the importance of employers understanding how cancer and its treatments affect an individual. “There will be times when an employee with cancer wants and needs to be back at work and times when [he or she] can’t work,” she said.
Although no two cancers or patients are exactly the same, treatment commonly includes surgery, radiation and/or chemotherapy—all of which cause some complications and side effects. The inability to tolerate side effects is the most common reason for dose reductions and treatment delays, which may reduce the treatment’s efficacy and lengthen the course of therapy and recovery time.
Simmons outlined several strategies that may help reduce these adverse effects and ensure that patients are able to continue receiving life-saving therapies on time, in full dose. For example, some patients may experience fewer side effects with newer, more targeted chemotherapy drugs. Employers can help by ensuring that these treatments are covered by their group benefits plans. Supportive medications can help boost the immune system, preventing the need to delay therapy and improving long-term outcomes. Exercise programs—which some employers offer—can also improve recovery times. “Decreasing the likelihood of treatment delays and increasing the likelihood of recovering in a timely fashion are critical in ensuring that patients get back to work,” she explained.
For an employer, prevention is perhaps the most important part of the cancer journey. “We typically think of the cancer journey beginning with diagnosis, but it really starts with prevention,” said Simmons. Many cancers—including melanoma and cancers of the breast, lung and colon—are preventable and highly treatable with early detection. She believes that workplace awareness and screening campaigns can have a significant impact on keeping employees healthy and on the job, but these programs are not as well adopted as they should be. Healthy lifestyles, too, have been consistently shown to have a positive effect on cancer prevention and recurrence. “Promoting healthy lifestyle choices in the workplace is the No. 1 way that employers can support their workers,” noted Simmons.
Elizabeth Garel is a freelance writer and editor based in Toronto. editor47eg@yahoo.com
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