Susan Bacon Cancer Resource Center
Carol Renn (Cancer Program Coordination/Cancer Registrar) talks about the Susan Bacon Cancer Resource Center. She explains her role as the coordinator and registrar, the services that are provided to the patients living with cancer, and the educational programs that are provided to the community.
Featuring:
Carol Renn, CTR
Carol Renn, CTR is Cancer Program Coordination/Cancer Registrar. Transcription:
Scott Webb (Host): Today, we're going to learn about the Susan Bacon Cancer Resource Center at Salinas Valley Health from Carol Renn. She's a certified tumor registrar and a cancer program coordinator with Salinas Valley Health, and she's going to tell us about the services and the programs that are offered at the center.
Host: This is Ask the Experts, the podcast from Salinas Valley Health. I'm Scott Webb. Carol, thanks so much for joining me today. Before we get rolling here, I want to find out what your role is at the Susan Bacon Cancer Resource Center. You know, what do you do? How do you do it? What do you love about your job? All that good stuff.
Carol Renn: My role is actually that of a certified tumor registrar and a cancer program coordinator. So, I collect data on cancer patients from the time of diagnosis for the remainder of their life, and I also help ensure that our hospital stays accredited with the Commission on Cancer. The part I love the most about what I do is the work done at the Susan Bacon Cancer Resource Center, and that we are here to help the public. You don't even have to be a patient at Salinas Valley Health to receive services here at the resource center. And knowing that we offer a safe place for not only cancer patients, but their loved ones to come in and receive resources, it's the best part of every day.
Host: I'm sure obviously patients, families. And let's talk about that. Let's talk about some of the services that you provide both to patients and families who are living with cancer.
Carol Renn: We offer services from the most basic of services, such as help with transportation or scheduling appointments to complex psychosocial needs and supports. If people have questions about their treatment, about side effects, what they should do next. Even after they have survived cancer, if they have questions about survivorship services or screenings, we are here to provide that. I've always said if any resource a patient may need, if we don't have it, we will do everything we can to find it. We have nurse navigators and a social worker as well as a coordinator here on site to be available to answer and address any concerns a patient may have.
Host: Yeah. And I'm sure you have some educational programs, so maybe we can talk about them. The educational programs, do you provide them in other languages besides English? Maybe the days and times. Maybe you can give us some of the specifics.
Carol Renn: So, one of the main resources we provide patients is at the time of diagnosis, we provide them a binder to help them keep all the information they're going to collect in one place, including the names of their providers, their appointments, information on their cancer. And then throughout the year, we offer various educational programs. At this time, we're still in the planning stages. It's the beginning of the year. But we also gear those educational programs towards the request of our patients and what they're looking for. In the meantime, we offer our nurse navigators to answer any medical question they may have. And our services in our binder are in English and in Spanish. And then, we also have access to LanguageLines, which can cover any dialect or language that a patient may speak.
Host: Yeah. And you mentioned earlier how this is really about the patients and their families, about those, you know, living with cancer, surviving cancer. What types of support groups do you offer? Are they meeting in person? are those offered in other languages? And again, maybe some of the days and times, just so folks can have all the information.
Carol Renn: Well, actually this is a very exciting time to answer that question. We currently have one support group. It's offered the first and third Tuesday of the month from 1:00 to 2:00, and it's for women with cancer. Currently, it's in English only, but it has been online for the last three years. And next Tuesday will be our very first return to in-person support group. We'll still have it available online via WebEx because we do know it's not always easy for patients to come in, but we're really excited to be able to offer that in-person experience again, and we will be adding a Spanish support group once this support group gets back up and running.
Host: Yeah. It's so great to hear. As you say, it's been years since, you know, many folks and many of these types of groups have been able to meet in-person. So, great to hear that you're going to be doing that meeting in-person and will be adding that in Spanish as well. And, you know, a little bird told me that men and women and children will come to the Cancer Resource Center and bring their hair, you know, that they've just cut off. Maybe you can tell us more about hair donations and what do you do with the hair.
Carol Renn: That is another very exciting part of our jobs, because to see how generous people are by cutting their hair off to donate it to cancer patients. And so, most of our hair gets sent to Locks of Love. But if a person has a specific organization they would prefer their hair get donated to, we're always happy to do that because most of the time it's inspired by their own personal story with cancer and knowing what it was like for a loved one to need a wig. And so, they want to give back and it's amazing. We'll have little kids who do this as often as they can grow their hair out. And it's a beautiful thing to witness. And we actually, in addition to collecting hair to help make wigs for patients, we have an actual wig bank in our office that provides wigs, head covering, scarves to patients at no charge. It's generously donated by our Salinas Valley Health Foundation. People can come in and we have a coordinator who is so skilled at picking out the right wig, I call her the wig whisperer. And it's an amazing opportunity to bond with patients and also it's a safe place to come in for what is often the most vulnerable part of their treatments.
Host: Maybe you could just tell folks where is the Susan Bacon Cancer Resource Center located, what are the hours of operation and so on.
Carol Renn: We are conveniently located at 501 East Romie Lane, and we're in suite C, for caring. And we are right across the street from our Salinas Valley Health Medical Center and a short walk to our Salinas Valley Health Cancer Care Clinic. We are open Monday through Thursday from 9:00 to 4:00 and Fridays from 9:00 to 2:00. But we are also available by appointment. If those hours don't work for a patient, they can call and let us know. And if somebody's available, we can make what works for them work for us.
Host: Yeah, absolutely. Maybe you can give folks the phone number. I'll do it again at the end as well. But let's give them the phone number if they need to make an appointment or just want more information.
Carol Renn: Perfect. It's area code (831) 759-1951.
Host: That's perfect. What would be just your sort of final thoughts and takeaways when we think about the Susan Bacon Cancer Resource Center, the work that you all are doing there and how you can help folks, I'll leave it to you.
Carol Renn: The most important thing to take away when thinking about the Cancer Resource Center is that if you have any questions, any concerns, any feelings that you need, a place to share them regarding cancer, whether it is fear of diagnosis and being afraid to go get that first test or being diagnosed and not knowing how to talk to your children about it or surviving cancer and now, you feel kind of lost and not sure what to do next, we are here for you. If your loved one has been diagnosed with cancer and you don't know how to support them and you want to talk to somebody about that, we're here for that too. We are truly your resource for everything pertaining to cancer and you do not have to be a patient at Salinas Valley Health to utilize the resource center. That is how dedicated our healthcare program is to supporting the people of our community.
Host: That's perfect. And again, to get more information or to make an appointment at the Susan Bacon Cancer Resource Center, the number is (831) 759-1951. Carol, so nice to meet you today, learn more about you and the work that you all are doing there and the wig whisperer. It's all good stuff. So, thank you so much. You stay well.
Carol Renn: It was a pleasure. And thank you so much for letting us share this information.
Host: And for a full list of all of our podcasts, go to salinasvalleyhealth.com/podcasts. And if you found this podcast to be helpful, please be sure to tell a friend, neighbor, or family member and subscribe, rate, and review this podcast and check out the entire podcast library for additional topics of interest. This is Ask the Experts from Salinas Valley Health. I'm Scott Webb. Stay well, and we'll talk again next time.
Scott Webb (Host): Today, we're going to learn about the Susan Bacon Cancer Resource Center at Salinas Valley Health from Carol Renn. She's a certified tumor registrar and a cancer program coordinator with Salinas Valley Health, and she's going to tell us about the services and the programs that are offered at the center.
Host: This is Ask the Experts, the podcast from Salinas Valley Health. I'm Scott Webb. Carol, thanks so much for joining me today. Before we get rolling here, I want to find out what your role is at the Susan Bacon Cancer Resource Center. You know, what do you do? How do you do it? What do you love about your job? All that good stuff.
Carol Renn: My role is actually that of a certified tumor registrar and a cancer program coordinator. So, I collect data on cancer patients from the time of diagnosis for the remainder of their life, and I also help ensure that our hospital stays accredited with the Commission on Cancer. The part I love the most about what I do is the work done at the Susan Bacon Cancer Resource Center, and that we are here to help the public. You don't even have to be a patient at Salinas Valley Health to receive services here at the resource center. And knowing that we offer a safe place for not only cancer patients, but their loved ones to come in and receive resources, it's the best part of every day.
Host: I'm sure obviously patients, families. And let's talk about that. Let's talk about some of the services that you provide both to patients and families who are living with cancer.
Carol Renn: We offer services from the most basic of services, such as help with transportation or scheduling appointments to complex psychosocial needs and supports. If people have questions about their treatment, about side effects, what they should do next. Even after they have survived cancer, if they have questions about survivorship services or screenings, we are here to provide that. I've always said if any resource a patient may need, if we don't have it, we will do everything we can to find it. We have nurse navigators and a social worker as well as a coordinator here on site to be available to answer and address any concerns a patient may have.
Host: Yeah. And I'm sure you have some educational programs, so maybe we can talk about them. The educational programs, do you provide them in other languages besides English? Maybe the days and times. Maybe you can give us some of the specifics.
Carol Renn: So, one of the main resources we provide patients is at the time of diagnosis, we provide them a binder to help them keep all the information they're going to collect in one place, including the names of their providers, their appointments, information on their cancer. And then throughout the year, we offer various educational programs. At this time, we're still in the planning stages. It's the beginning of the year. But we also gear those educational programs towards the request of our patients and what they're looking for. In the meantime, we offer our nurse navigators to answer any medical question they may have. And our services in our binder are in English and in Spanish. And then, we also have access to LanguageLines, which can cover any dialect or language that a patient may speak.
Host: Yeah. And you mentioned earlier how this is really about the patients and their families, about those, you know, living with cancer, surviving cancer. What types of support groups do you offer? Are they meeting in person? are those offered in other languages? And again, maybe some of the days and times, just so folks can have all the information.
Carol Renn: Well, actually this is a very exciting time to answer that question. We currently have one support group. It's offered the first and third Tuesday of the month from 1:00 to 2:00, and it's for women with cancer. Currently, it's in English only, but it has been online for the last three years. And next Tuesday will be our very first return to in-person support group. We'll still have it available online via WebEx because we do know it's not always easy for patients to come in, but we're really excited to be able to offer that in-person experience again, and we will be adding a Spanish support group once this support group gets back up and running.
Host: Yeah. It's so great to hear. As you say, it's been years since, you know, many folks and many of these types of groups have been able to meet in-person. So, great to hear that you're going to be doing that meeting in-person and will be adding that in Spanish as well. And, you know, a little bird told me that men and women and children will come to the Cancer Resource Center and bring their hair, you know, that they've just cut off. Maybe you can tell us more about hair donations and what do you do with the hair.
Carol Renn: That is another very exciting part of our jobs, because to see how generous people are by cutting their hair off to donate it to cancer patients. And so, most of our hair gets sent to Locks of Love. But if a person has a specific organization they would prefer their hair get donated to, we're always happy to do that because most of the time it's inspired by their own personal story with cancer and knowing what it was like for a loved one to need a wig. And so, they want to give back and it's amazing. We'll have little kids who do this as often as they can grow their hair out. And it's a beautiful thing to witness. And we actually, in addition to collecting hair to help make wigs for patients, we have an actual wig bank in our office that provides wigs, head covering, scarves to patients at no charge. It's generously donated by our Salinas Valley Health Foundation. People can come in and we have a coordinator who is so skilled at picking out the right wig, I call her the wig whisperer. And it's an amazing opportunity to bond with patients and also it's a safe place to come in for what is often the most vulnerable part of their treatments.
Host: Maybe you could just tell folks where is the Susan Bacon Cancer Resource Center located, what are the hours of operation and so on.
Carol Renn: We are conveniently located at 501 East Romie Lane, and we're in suite C, for caring. And we are right across the street from our Salinas Valley Health Medical Center and a short walk to our Salinas Valley Health Cancer Care Clinic. We are open Monday through Thursday from 9:00 to 4:00 and Fridays from 9:00 to 2:00. But we are also available by appointment. If those hours don't work for a patient, they can call and let us know. And if somebody's available, we can make what works for them work for us.
Host: Yeah, absolutely. Maybe you can give folks the phone number. I'll do it again at the end as well. But let's give them the phone number if they need to make an appointment or just want more information.
Carol Renn: Perfect. It's area code (831) 759-1951.
Host: That's perfect. What would be just your sort of final thoughts and takeaways when we think about the Susan Bacon Cancer Resource Center, the work that you all are doing there and how you can help folks, I'll leave it to you.
Carol Renn: The most important thing to take away when thinking about the Cancer Resource Center is that if you have any questions, any concerns, any feelings that you need, a place to share them regarding cancer, whether it is fear of diagnosis and being afraid to go get that first test or being diagnosed and not knowing how to talk to your children about it or surviving cancer and now, you feel kind of lost and not sure what to do next, we are here for you. If your loved one has been diagnosed with cancer and you don't know how to support them and you want to talk to somebody about that, we're here for that too. We are truly your resource for everything pertaining to cancer and you do not have to be a patient at Salinas Valley Health to utilize the resource center. That is how dedicated our healthcare program is to supporting the people of our community.
Host: That's perfect. And again, to get more information or to make an appointment at the Susan Bacon Cancer Resource Center, the number is (831) 759-1951. Carol, so nice to meet you today, learn more about you and the work that you all are doing there and the wig whisperer. It's all good stuff. So, thank you so much. You stay well.
Carol Renn: It was a pleasure. And thank you so much for letting us share this information.
Host: And for a full list of all of our podcasts, go to salinasvalleyhealth.com/podcasts. And if you found this podcast to be helpful, please be sure to tell a friend, neighbor, or family member and subscribe, rate, and review this podcast and check out the entire podcast library for additional topics of interest. This is Ask the Experts from Salinas Valley Health. I'm Scott Webb. Stay well, and we'll talk again next time.