Our President Diane Riche, was appointed by Governor Baker to serve on the Massachusetts Commission on Ovarian Cancer. One major finding of that Commission was in addition to unmet psychosocial needs, ovarian cancer patients and their families may have other unmet needs, including ones related to service accessibility, financial stability, and physical changes. According to Commission members, the lack of available or reliable transportation, specifically for patients who live far away from Boston, can make it challenging to receive treatment and support. Financial strain can be especially significant for low-income women with ovarian cancer. Finally, after surgery, the immediate onset of menopause and inability for women to have children can result in a range of physical and emotional needs.
"There are services, including psychosocial support, that exist to meet these needs, however ovarian cancer patients have difficulty learning about and accessing these services with no comprehensive resource guide available. A comprehensive guide of Massachusetts-specific resources would likely be referred to, and relied on, by women and their families suffering from ovarian cancer."
Many of these resources are available to those with any gynecologic cancer.
Our Resource Guide addresses this problem and is free to download here