Colorectal Cancer Screening: The Silver Lining

Posted September 1st, 2020

When I heard the news this weekend about the passing of Chadwick Boseman, like many I was shocked and sad that another young life was taken by this disease. Chadwick chose to keep his diagnosis and treatment private. Whether or not to share a cancer diagnosis with friends and acquaintances is a deeply personal one […]

Normalcy….When Nothing is Normal

Posted March 26th, 2020

I wake up every morning thinking nothing much until I realize it’s 7:30am and no kid is up and ready for school – oh wait, that’s right, there’s a pandemic happening. I’ve been struggling to keep things normal when nothing is normal. Some might say don’t bother, it isn’t possible. But for me, this is […]

Let OncoLink Help You Through the Holidays

Posted December 2nd, 2019

Over the years, our team has done webinars and written blogs and articles covering all kinds of things that come up during the holiday season when you are dealing with a cancer diagnosis. We thought it would be useful to provide a guide of sorts to all these resources. We hope these resources can help […]

Remember, Cancer is Expensive!!

Posted November 21st, 2019

Not a week goes by that I don’t see a blog or Facebook post asking how to help a friend with cancer. People often suggest many tangible things, but rarely money. Given our focus on the financial side of cancer this month, I’d like to clear up some things and provide a suggestion. There aren’t many […]

Patient Safety Through Education: For the Patient

Posted August 16th, 2019

There was a time when patients were expected to do what the doctor told them without asking many questions – or even understanding their illness. Fortunately, this is not the norm anymore. Healthcare providers have learned that patients who understand their illness and treatment are more likely to stick with their treatments, understand when to […]

Patient Safety Through Education: For the Provider

Posted August 12th, 2019

There was a time when patients were expected to do what the doctor told them without asking many questions – or even understanding their illness. Fortunately, this is not the norm anymore. As healthcare providers, we have learned that patients who understand their illness and treatment are more likely to stick with their treatments, understand […]

Vaccines Keeping Us Safe

Posted August 5th, 2019

A vaccine teaches your body’s immune system to recognize and protect you against certain germs. Vaccines contain a small amount of a virus or bacteria that is known to cause a serious or deadly illness. The virus or bacteria has been weakened or killed so that it cannot make you sick. Your immune system learns […]

Sun Safety

Posted July 8th, 2019

Skin cancer rates have been rising for many years. It seems that many of us love the sunshine – to a fault. The UV radiation from the sun causes skin damage and aging, cataracts and skin cancer. Every year there are more new cases of skin cancer than new cases of breast, prostate, lung and […]

Survivorship Care Plans – What does the future hold?

Posted June 24th, 2019

If you are following the proposed Commission on Cancer (CoC) changes to the survivorship standard, you know they have drafted changes that would make providing survivorship care plans (SCP) unnecessary for accreditation, though they still recommend their use. While implementing SCP use in clinics has proven challenging for some centers, others have had great successes. We […]

Fear: The Unwanted Passenger

Posted June 18th, 2019

Author’s note: I wrote this piece a few years back but, of course, it still speaks to me. Probably always will. You might feel the same.  I visited my dermatologist the other day. “Fifteen years!” she said. So long ago, yet sometimes so close.  The thing is, once you have had a diagnosis of cancer […]