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Cancer Caregivers Honored For Outstanding Work by American Cancer Society


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Atlanta - Thirteen outstanding cancer care providers from a variety of backgrounds and locales have been chosen to receive the 2007 American Cancer Society Lane Adams Quality of Life Award, a prestigious national prize for cancer caring. The Lane Adams Quality of Life Award recognizes individuals who have made a difference through innovation, leadership, and consistent excellence in providing compassionate, skilled care, and counsel to persons living with cancer and their families. They will be presented in a ceremony in Austin, Texas on Friday, May 18, 2007. This year, the Society honors:

0. Wendy Favila-Penney, BS, LVN, Patient Navigator, Alameda County Medical Center, Oakland, Calif. As an early participant in the Patient Navigator program, Ms. Favila-Penney has weathered 15 years of budget cuts, staff changes, and program cuts, but has never wavered from her mission of getting underserved patients the care they need. Reluctant to accept ‘no’ for an answer, she tries another avenue, using humor and persistence to pave the way.
0. John D. Glover, MD, Chief, Radiation Oncology, Bruno Cancer Center, Birmingham, Ala. Dr. Glover is described as treating each patient as if he or she were his only one, as bringing a calm, loving sense of comfort at a time of anxiety and pain, and as serving as a role model to colleagues, who praise his compassion, care, and love for his career.
0. Gay-Lynne Jones, RN, Clinical Director, Julie & Ben Rogers Cancer Institute, Beaumont, Texas. One nominator called Ms. Jones “one of Beamont’s foremost community minded and patient centered health care providers.” She not only assures that her center runs smoothly, she volunteers for multiple health organizations. When evacuees from Hurricane Katrina arrived at the doors of her treatment facility, she helped them navigate the new terrain and continue the best treatment. A month later, when Hurricane Rita began bearing down on her own coastline, she created a proactive plan to make sure patients had their medical records, treatment plans and medications, giving them the security they needed.
0. Jeff Lycan, RN, President and CEO, Ohio Hospice & Palliative Care Organization, Dublin, Ohio. Under Mr Lycan’s leadership, his organization has become the premiere agency for resources, education, and advocacy for end of life care in Ohio. Meanwhile he has established himself as an expert in the field, having delivered more than 75 presentations on palliative care around the state and the nation.
0. Novella K. Lyons, Founder, Women of Faith & Hope, Philadelphia, Penn. As a breast cancer survivor, Ms. Lyons found the support programs she attended lacking in diversity, so she formed her own. It focuses on the spiritual aspects that can help at difficult times, but also includes a strong advocacy component, encouraging survivors to channel their experience into action by writing lawmakers and fighting for all cancer survivors.
0. Susan Moreno, Trainer, Reach to Recovery, Ocala, Fla. A Reach to Recovery area trainer, Ms. Moreno has an insatiable desire to see to it that no breast cancer patient suffers needlessly due to lack of insurance or financial means. She has improved the lives of breast cancer patients while going through treatment herself, having been diagnosed with breast cancer. She also visits female inmates in the Marion County prison system, teaching them the importance of early detection, and was instrumental in the passage of the Mary Brogan Breast & Cervical Cancer Treatment Act, which helps provide treatment for uninsured women in Florida.
0. Leah DeRoulet-Magee MSW, LICSW, Swedish Cancer Institute, Seattle, Wash. A practicing oncology social worker for more than 20 years, Ms. DeRoulet-Magee is noted for her warm and gregarious nature, for a love that creates a welcome environment where difficult and painful emotions can be expressed, and for having a presence that brings forward a feeling of wellness at a time when wellness is a rare commodity.
0. Paula Plona, ACSW, OSW-C, Concord Hospital Payson Center for Cancer Care, Concord, N.H. Ms. Plona has helped create and implement many of the support programs at her center, spending long hours planning and facilitating. She currently heads four support groups, as well as arranges educational programs for cancer patients and their families. All the while, she serves in her role as oncology social worker with expertise, dedication, and enthusiasm.
0. Frank Reedy, Penn Argyl, Penn. A prostate cancer survivor, Mr. Reedy has been called a leading advocate for New Jersey cancer survivors, particularly those with prostate cancer. The long hours he toils have led to the development of patient education programs, a web page for New Jersey prostate cancer survivors and their families, and a continuing personal dedication to supporting other men with prostate cancer and their families.
0. Donnie Riley, Riley Business Products, Cullman, Ala. A longtime volunteer for the American Cancer Society, he helped cancer patients affected by Hurricane Katrina get the care they needed, all the while caring for his wife and son, both of whom had been diagnosed with cancer, and both of whom lost their fight in 2006.
0. Andrea L. Silber, MD, Director, Cancer Control & Early Detection, Hospital of Saint Raphael, New Haven, Conn. Dr. Silber is noted for more than a decade of dedication to increasing breast cancer screening among African American and other underserved populations. Among other successes, she established the Sister-to-Sister program, a model outreach program that increased screening 300 percent among minority women.
0. Heather Spotts, LMSW, OSW-C, Oncology Social Worker, Breslin Cancer Center, Michigan State University, Lansing, Mich. Staffers said when Heather first arrived at their center three years ago, they weren’t sure what she could bring to the clinic. Now, three years later, they’re not sure how the clinic could survive without her. Patients and their families call her extraordinary, listening with compassion, providing solutions to complicated issues, and even taking care of the daily tasks patients often cannot.
0. Boonsee Yu, MD, Retired, East Northport, New York. Dr. Yu was nominated for her passionate and caring support for cancer patients as a physician volunteer for the American Cancer Society. Diagnosed with colon cancer several years ago, she saw an opportunity to help others, and has since provided individual counseling to hundreds of cancer patients, particularly in the Asian community in Long Island, New York.
“These extraordinary individuals come from many disciplines and backgrounds, but what they share in common is their daily dedication to extend ‘the warm hand of service’ to cancer patients,” said Richard C. Wender, MD, national volunteer president of the American Cancer Society. “These awards recognize the unsung heroes of cancer care who give hope, comfort and the very best care to cancer patients and their families. Today we recognize just a few of the many cancer care providers whose work is often overlooked, and who make a real difference in the lives of cancer patients.”
The American Cancer Society has recognized cancer caregivers through the Lane Adams Quality of Life Award since 1988. The awards committee includes long-time national Society volunteers, including Vicki Adams Quan, the daughter of Lane W. Adams, the former executive vice president of the Society who coined the term the “warm hand of service” and made attention to compassionate care a legacy of his service.
The American Cancer Society is dedicated to eliminating cancer as a major health problem by saving lives, diminishing suffering and preventing cancer through research, education, advocacy and service. Founded in 1913 and with national headquarters in Atlanta, the Society has 13 regional Divisions and local offices in 3,400 communities, involving millions of volunteers across the United States.



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