CanSupport

CanSupport was established by a cancer survivor to provide free support to cancer patients of all ages and at all stages of their cancer journey. People with cancer and their families have access to a helpline, supportive medication and equipment, information on mobilizing financial aid, day-care and counselling services.

Some of their activities are as follows:

Home Care Field Services: Teams of doctors, nurses and counsellors trained in palliative care make weekly visits to homes of patients too sick to travel. They provide free high quality medical care offering medication, consultation, nursing, guidance & equipment as well as psychosocial and spiritual support. In the last year, the teams served a total of 5,191 patients and their families through 36,389 home visits in the year and 2,821 tele/video consultations during the pandemic waves. The Community Networking Officers reach out to underserved areas, slums and villages by raising awareness of cancer through health camps.  

Outpatient Clinics: These free clinics, established in 2013, provide essential supportive & palliative care ensuring better outcomes. Patients are helped to respond to side effects as soon as they occur by facilitating early intervention, and those who visit are more likely to complete their treatment, and avoid unnecessary hospitalization.

Mobile Palliative Care Clinic (MPCC): As an extension to the Outpatient Clinics, CanSupport launched this program, to be situated outside those hospitals where a physical premise for setting up an outpatient clinic was not feasible. This is a first of its kind in North India. It includes a palliative care physician, nurse, counsellor, social worker and a hospital networking officer to offer comprehensive care to patients and their caregivers in a one-window set-up.

Telephone Helpline: It provides information and emotional support to callers, provides coordination with care/service providers for cancer-related needs. This is a confidential service and manned by trained counsellors, providing support to around 700 callers per month.

Day Care: The Day Care program gives children, teenagers and adults with cancer and their caregivers a secure and comforting platform that provides opportunities for self-expression under caring individuals. The easy and caring atmosphere of the Day Care and healing therapies offered by our volunteers lifts their spirits, giving everyone a well-earned respite from the stress and strain of enduring an illness far away from home. At the end of Day Care, a nutritious home cooked meal is also provided to the patients and caregivers.

Besides, CanSupport has other programs to spread awareness by providing vital information about cancer, palliative care and pertinent resources as well as service referrals to the most underserved communities like slums, villages, low income colonies and resettlement areas.