If cancer is a journey, then a patient’s employer can be considered a vital member of the travel crew. That was one of the key messages delivered by several presenters at the 2012 Employers Cancer Care Summit. Held February 22 at Toronto’s Sutton Place Hotel, the event brought together benefits plan sponsors to learn about the challenges that individuals face during cancer treatment and recovery, and what employers can do to support them along the way.
“When I was first diagnosed [with stage 4 melanoma] in 2003, I knew how important my support network of family and friends would be on my journey to survive,” said Kathleen Barnard, founder of the Save Your Skin Foundation. “But I had no clue how important my employer’s role would be. 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 in their wellness.”
Fortunately for Barnard, her employer at the time, the Insurance Corporation of British Columbia, offered a full benefits package and long-term disability coverage. As a result, she was able to focus on her treatment without worrying about her finances. But her employer offered other benefits that Barnard failed to utilize because she was unaware of their existence. For example, she now realizes that counselling could have helped her entire family cope during the difficulties of diagnosis and treatment, but she did not know such services were available and covered through her company. “I wish my employer had given me some information to remind me what great benefits were available to me,” she said.
Perhaps the most important role an employer can play in the cancer journey is prevention. “We typically think of the cancer journey beginning with diagnosis, but it really starts with prevention,” said medical oncologist Dr. Christine Simmons of St. Michael’s Hospital in Toronto. 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 in 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 number one way that employers can support their workers,” she said.
For those individuals travelling through the treatment stages of their cancer journey, Dr. Simmons outlined several strategies that may help reduce the toxic effects of chemotherapy and ensure that patients are able to continue receiving life-saving therapies in full dose and on time. For example, some patients may experience fewer side effects with newer, more targeted chemotherapy drugs, although these are often more expense than traditional treatments and are not covered by many benefits plans. Supportive medications can help boost the immune system, preventing the need to delay therapy and improving long-term outcomes. Exercise programs also increase the likelihood of recovering in a timely fashion.
For many people, Dr. Simmons added, “return to work can be the best treatment.”
Full coverage of the 2012 Employers Cancer Care Summit will appear in the May issue of Benefits Canada magazine.
Elizabeth Garel is a freelance writer and editor specializing in healthcare. She is based in Toronto.