FEATURE
Baylor Scott & White Health, American
Cancer Society bring hope, housing to
Dallas cancer patients
The best care for a cancer patient isn’t always close
to their home. In fact, thousands of cancer patients travel from
throughout our region to receive care for their illness in the
Dallas-Fort Worth area. This often means patients are racking up countless miles and expenses for frequent visits for follow-up appointments, scans, chemotherapy, radiation treatments, transplants, clinical trials and hospital stays – all while
trying to recover from a frightening disease.
For many of these patients and their caregivers, finding an
affordable place to sleep each night can be a significant burden.
To help ease this logistical and financial worry, Baylor Scott
& White Health and the American Cancer Society are
working together to bring the area’s first Hope Lodge to
Dallas. Hope Lodge provides a nurturing, home-like environment at no cost for cancer patients and their caregivers to
stay while receiving care.
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Without the burden of wondering where they’ll stay and
how to pay for it, patients can focus all their energy on getting well. They can also connect with other patients and families staying at the lodge so they know that they are not alone
in their fight.
“The diagnosis and treatment for cancer are frightening and
overwhelming to so many,” said Alan Miller, M.D., Ph.D.,
chief of oncology and medical director of Baylor Charles A.
Sammons Cancer Center. “A lot of people may not be able
to benefit from some of the most advanced treatments available because they have to travel a long distance to get these.
The Hope Lodge makes it easier for them to access the most
up-to-date treatments and clinical trials.”
Preliminary conceptual drawings for the facility are complete. And although Hope Lodge Dallas will be built on a 1.5acre plot of land close to the Baylor Sammons Cancer Center,