GeorgiaCancerInfo.org to house new portal dedicated to survivorship
6/16/2014
By late summer, Georgia’s cancer survivors, caregivers and healthcare professionals will have an interactive center for all things related to being and caring for a cancer survivor. The new Cancer Survivorship Connection is an Internet portal that will be housed on GeorgiaCancerInfo.org and completely dedicated to survivorship. Funded by a grant given to Georgia CORE by Tom and Karen Chapman (link to initial story), the site will be a place to get information and resources and connect with other survivors.
“The Cancer Survivorship Connection is a unique, high-quality and impactful interactive online cancer survivorship information center,” said Georgia CORE vice president and cancer survivor Angie Patterson. “With more than a dozen survivors and professionals on the project Advisory Board, there has been much time, thought and effort put into the site, and we are so grateful to each and every person that has been involved with its creation.”
A brainchild of Patterson’s, the project could not have come to fruition without the generous gift from the Chapmans.
“Karen and I are very happy to support the development of Georgia’s only statewide interactive website dedicated to survivorship,” said Tom Chapman. “There are more than 360,000 survivors in our state. Now they and those that care for them will have at their fingertips all the survivorship information, navigation, tools and support available here in Georgia.”
The Cancer Survivorship Connection is being developed from data, such as a survivors needs assessment completed by the Comprehensive Cancer Control Plan Survivorship Work Group and a caregivers needs assessment completed by the Cancer Patient Navigators of Georgia. Advisory Board members provided feedback that went into the development as well, compiling information based on their premises of “what I wish I knew” and “what I wish my doctor/provider had told me.”
According to Patterson, the purpose of the site is to be a bridge between active cancer treatment and long-term survivorship, with information and connectivity that will support survivors on their cancer journey. It will have tools and interactive maps to locate navigators and survivorship programs and resources in Georgia, as well as blogging, chatting and social media capabilities.
With June being National Cancer Survivors Awareness month, Georgia CORE will conduct a “soft launch” this month to stakeholders to further assess and tweak the site, with hopes to “go live” to the general public by the end of summer 2014.