Sanford Health, in the course of this five-year project, will expand and implement our support services and survivorship programs in the four primary Sanford Health regions of Bemidji (MN), Bismarck (ND), Fargo (ND), and Sioux Falls (SD). We will focus on subpopulations of YBCS and MBC patients that are underserved and face barriers to care, including LGBT and American Indian patients.
Given the demographics of our service area, we need to continue to develop innovative approaches to anticipate potential barriers to care and side effects to treatment, to be able to consistently offer services to improve these situations. Peer-based support has been proven to be an effective way to improve quality of life, stress management and improve healthy behaviors for breast cancer survivors. However, if it is unstructured or unmoderated, it can be detrimental. Through our mentorship pilot in Fargo, we successfully address barriers to care, with the most prevalent one being fear. Expansion of this program to all of Sanford’s footprint and placing an emphasis the particular needs of young survivors and disparity populations will be a needed area of growth.
The Sanford Health Enterprise Cancer Survivorship team will expand existing survivorship programming across all four regions so that it is consistent, accessible, and reaches disparate populations, including American Indian and sexual minorities, more effectively. This will include mentorship program (lay navigation), Prepare for Surgery Heal Faster, yoga/mindfulness classes, FOURward, and palliative care navigation. We will utilize patient centered design (innovation principles) to develop new programming with input from patient focus groups, patient observations, needs assessments, other industries, and collaborations. We will utilize existing educational modules, disseminate to our staff, and create new modules, including cultural sensitivity and sexual health training, for staff and survivors.
We will harness technology with social media, apps, and innovative telemedicine to make services accessible and cost efficient. We will work collaboratively with other awardees of this grant, support programs, national organizations, and research programs to share best practices and continue addressing public health priorities that affect young breast cancer survivors. We are proud of what we have accomplished with our survivorship program but know there is so much more we can do to advance care.
With support from the Multiple Approaches to Support Breast Young Breast Cancer Survivors (YBCS) and Metastatic Breast Cancer (MBC) Patients funding opportunity from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), we aim to be part of this transformation of care for young breast cancer survivors. By the end of the project period, we will have successfully increased the availability of services of support for YBCS and MBC patients and their families in the Bemidji (MN), Bismarck (ND), Fargo (ND), and Sioux Falls (SD) regions.
