Message from Andrea Ferris, President and CEOOur new normal It has now been two months that the LUNGevity staff has been fully working from home. It’s been an unusual time as we learned to support our community from the confines of our homes. However, our team was able to adapt to and embrace these challenging circumstances, and I am so proud of what we have been able to accomplish. We are now entering a new phase of these uncharted times. As the world begins to open up and many states start to relax their shelter-in-place rules, we are adapting to ensure we are supporting our community to the fullest extent. LUNGevity is committed to making sure our community has the tools to stay healthy, the most up-to-date information on policy changes to manage the healthcare system, and the information they need to safely go back to work. While there is still so much unknown about what the future of this public health crisis holds, one thing is certain: our community has proven its resiliency and its unwavering efforts to support lung cancer. I applaud all on our team, and all of our constituents, who are integral to these continued steps forward. We have the greatest impact when we work together. Update from Upal Basu Roy, PhD, MPH, Vice President of ResearchManaging the COVID-19 information overload In our latest COVID-19 update, we addressed how to manage the information overload about COVID-19. We described a framework called the Evidence-Based Pyramid to help you evaluate new information you receive. As you'll see, COVID-19 has not been around long enough for scientists to collect sufficient high-quality evidence. In addition to information overload, we discussed important developments about the virus from the annual American Association for Cancer Research (AACR) meeting, including the implications of COVID-19 on your personal cancer treatment and cancer research as a whole. You can read the update here. Check back Monday for next week’s update. Update from Katie Brown, VP of Support and Survivorship ProgramsCoping and relaxation strategies I hope you are all staying healthy and well. Many of you may be experiencing additional anxiety during this time. To address this unease and provide strategies to manage it, I am pleased to share the latest video in our Conversations with Healthcare Experts series. The video features Dr. Teresa DeShields, Director of Supportive Oncology at Rush University Cancer Center in Chicago, IL, who is assisting lung cancer patients with coping in the COVID-19 era. In this two-part series, Dr. DeShields spoke about factors specific to lung cancer that may cause patients to have more anxiety about the virus than others, and provided relaxation techniques to help cope with this excess anxiety. I encourage you to watch the video if you are struggling with heightened anxiety or if you are looking for relaxation tips. Also, don’t forget to join us for our weekly Zoom meetings! Every Friday, LUNGevity hosts multiple, small-group virtual Zoom meetups with patients and survivors who want to meet and connect with others like them. These meetings are capped at 10-12 people so you won’t feel lost in the crowd. Join us for virtual support, information, and friendship with your peers impacted by lung cancer! Learn more and sign up on our website. Please remember, LUNGevity is here to help you navigate emotionally during these difficult times. Please reach out to support@lungevity.org or 312-407-6116 if you are feeling isolated or need support. We are stronger together. Update from Jeanne Regnante, Chief Health Equity and Inclusion OfficerUnderserved populations and the use of telehealth COVID-19 is not affecting all communities equally. The way communities are responding to the virus and how the virus is being managed and treated is different across the country. To get a sense of this, we spoke with oncology nurse navigator Cheryl Bellomo, who works at Intermountain Cancer Center, Cedar City Hospital, in rural southwest Utah. Due to the large geographic spread of the hospital’s reach, Cheryl and the staff are well-versed in telehealth best practices. Our discussion touched on the patient services still available at Cheryl’s hospital, how healthcare professionals and patients have learned to adjust to telehealth, and some advice on the most pressing questions on patients’ minds. We also busted a few myths about the virus. I encourage you to watch the video here. Update from Kristen Santiago, Senior Director, Public Policy InitiativesExpanded telehealth services for Medicare and Medicaid beneficiaries In order to better support our healthcare system during the COVID-19 crisis, the Centers of Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) have announced additional changes to plans that will provide healthcare providers and patients flexibility. Most likely to impact you if you are a Medicare or Medicaid beneficiary is the expanded telehealth and at-home services. You are now able to take advantage of telehealth without video capabilities through audio-only devices. There are also expanded at-home and community-based testing services to prevent more exposure to COVID-19. This expansion in telehealth and at-home services is an important change that will result in safe access to care from home. You can learn more about this and other proposed changes in this press release. Also, our recent video interview with Washington-area strategist Monica Popp explains more about the new telehealth policies and several questions about telehealth are answered in our weekly update from April 20. Healthcare policy and regulations have been more fluid than usual during the COVID-19 pandemic. As these changes are made, we strive to keep you as updated as possible on issues that may impact you. If you have specific questions please reach out to Kristen Santiago, Senior Director, Public Policy Initiatives, at ksantiago@lungevity.org. |