Champion’s Prize Impact Update: Expanding Resources, Peer Support, and Nutrition Initiatives

 
Survivorship Team at the Penn State Health Children's Survivorship Program

Since our last Champion’s Prize update in February, the Childhood Cancer Survivorship Program at Penn State Milton S. Hershey Medical Center and Children’s Hospital has utilized Prize funds from Children’s Cancer Cause to continue progress on several fronts:

  • Online catalogue of resources: The clinic’s resources for adolescent and young adult (AYA) survivors include events, support groups, retreats, and conferences for survivors and for their caregivers — offered both virtually and in person. With the help of the Champion’s Prize funding, the program has created a virtual space for these resources on the Penn State Health Pediatric Cancer Survivorship website. The site also provides a list of local and national summer camps, a scholarship guide, and resources for resume writing, job searching, and vocational rehabilitation.

  • A curriculum for the Food as Medicine Initiative: Working with an Education Program Specialist, a Teaching Kitchen Manager, and a researcher dietician, the program is developing and testing a curriculum that reduces the burden of chronic disease by modifying diet.

  • Peer support: Photovoice Project is an innovative peer supported photography program that will help survivors’ express emotions, reflect on experiences, and build community through the lens of a camera. This project will launch later this summer.

“We are so thankful for the award which continues to allow us to develop cool programs that meet the survivors where they are at for their needs.” -Program Director Smita Dandekar, MBBS, MD

About the Champion’s Prize

Since its inception in 2020, the Survivorship Champion’s Prize has awarded $95,000 to a total of fourteen prestigious survivorship programs across the country, enabling these institutions to address disparities in access to care, enhance and expand healthcare transition programs, improve technology, and purchase tablets and books for clinic patients.

These awards recognize the importance of programs to serve the unique challenges associated with the post-treatment services for survivors, especially as they transition to non-oncology adolescent and/or adult health care services. The Survivorship Champion’s Prize is a component of the Stewart Initiative for Childhood Cancer Survivors, an educational program of the Children’s Cancer Cause.

To leverage expertise among Prize recipients, Children’s Cancer Cause has been working with previous winners to share information to identify common clinical issues that can best be addressed through collaboration.

 
SurvivorshipJulie TaylorChampion's Prize, Penn State, survivorship