Over the past 21 years, the 95.5 WSB Care-a-Thon has supported Research, the Fellowship program, and the Family Support Team at the Aflac Cancer and Blood Disorders Center.
The Family Support Team works to care for the whole child and their family to help ensure their cancer journey is as positive as possible. The family support team is invaluable to the patient experience and includes a variety of roles, a majority of which are donor-funded. With donor support, we can continue to provide vital services and programs that allow us to take care of the whole child so that they not only survive, but also thrive. Team members include:
Child life specialists who help a child and their family learn about the disease and cope with difficult procedures.
- Teachers who keep patients up to speed with their classwork so that they do not fall behind while undergoing treatment.
- Chaplains who provide spiritual support for patient families, especially during challenging times, such as diagnosis or relapse of disease and end-of-life care.
- Social workers who link patients and families with community resources, as well as advocate for their emotional and physical needs during a diagnosis and treatment.
- Music therapists who use music to connect with patients in a therapeutic way.
Additionally, the Aflac Cancer and Blood Disorders Center has grown to be one of the largest pediatric hematology/oncology fellowship programs in the country. We offer three-year fellowships in collaboration with Emory University School of Medicine to qualified, promising physicians. Our fellowship program is the premier program in the Southeast, accepting five new fellows each year. We rely on donor support to educate and inform the medical innovators and leaders of tomorrow.
Our clinical research program offers patients access to more than 400 clinical studies, including some of the most novel diagnostic and treatment options in the country. The Aflac Cancer and Blood Disorders Center is currently ranked #2 in the country for Children's Oncology Group therapeutic clinical trial enrollment, which is important because we know that a clinical trial is the very best shot at a cure.