Cancer Support Services Program
Providence St. Mary Foundation
Your Gift Makes All the Difference
Our St. Mary Regional Cancer Center provides expert, compassionate, local care to our neighbors who are navigating cancer. Your investment supports technology, equipment, patient assistance and programs to ensure the highest possible quality of cancer care is available in the Walla Walla Valley.
Funds also eliminate the hurdles many cancer patients face by paying for urgent expenses not covered by insurance such as art therapy, overnight stays at Herring House for patients coming from a distance and emotional support groups.
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Our Impact
We believe survivorship starts the day you are diagnosed with cancer. Your investments in the Providence St. Mary Regional Cancer Center makes it possible for staff to offer the best clinical care throughout treatment and support patients as they adjust to various changes in their life during and following treatment.
Special Needs Fund
You funded support and art therapy groups that bring cancer patients together to provide access to information and encourage connection with others going through similar experiences.
Jan Erickson Lifesaver Fund
Your investments made it possible for 117 uninsured women to receive a free mammogram. Four of those women received an early-stage cancer diagnosis and were able to start treatment right away.
Streamway
You eased a cancer patient’s way by purchasing equipment that makes it safe and more comfortable to remove the fluid that can build up in a cancer patient’s abdomen and chest.
Survivorship celebration
You reminded breast cancer survivors that they are not alone by funding a celebration.
Breast cancer patient navigator
Receiving a cancer diagnosis can be scary. You funded a breast cancer patient navigator that stands with patients, so they don’t have to tackle a cancer diagnosis alone.
Prostate coil
You purchased equipment that increased the accuracy of prostate exams, making it easier to detect prostate cancer early. Your gift provides direct support for sustaining high quality care for men's health.
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Cancer Center
Supports technology, equipment, patient assistance and programs to ensure the highest possible quality of cancer care is available in the Walla Walla Valley. -
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Cancer Special Needs Fund
Eliminates the hurdles many cancer patients face by paying for urgent expenses not covered by insurance. -
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Cancer Center Social Work Fund
Supports free art therapy and other emotional support programs and groups for cancer patients. -
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Herring House
Located adjacent to Providence St. Mary Medical Center, Herring House serves as a home away from home for cancer patients and their families.
A Transformational Support System
When Shawna Larsen looks back on her journey through breast cancer, she thinks first of the people who took her experience from what could have been dreadful to one of positivity.
Her world was turned upside down when a screening mammogram and biopsy revealed cancer. So began a whirlwind of appointments, surgery, chemotherapy and radiation. “It was a lot to take in,” Shawna recalls. And while the medical treatment was seamlessly taken care of, it was the additional support that transformed her experience into something manageable.
A week after her lumpectomy, Shawna met with an occupational therapist who helped her with deep breathing techniques and exercises to reduce swelling. Shawna was also connected with the Cancer Center’s social worker who provided counseling to help with anxiety. Shawna recalls that Alex taught her to “take on a different perspective and say today, we’re just going to look at this a different way.”
Shawna also discovered the cancer support group and Zentangle-inspired art. Having local care made a world of difference for her. Despite how terrible she felt after chemo, she was appreciative that “I ache, I hurt, I hate chemo. But I’m in my house.”
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