Leo W. Jenkins Cancer Center receives LIVESTRONG award | Eastern North Carolina Now

For Immediate Release:

    GREENVILLE, N.C.     The Leo W. Jenkins Cancer Center has been awarded a grant from the national LIVESTRONG Foundation that will provide support for healing trauma endured by cancer treatment providers.

    The center is one of 13 organizations nationwide to be awarded $10,700 along with the training and tools to replicate the VitalHearts Secondary Trauma Resiliency Training program. The resiliency training mission is caring for cancer treatment providers who suffer from secondary or vicarious trauma, which is a significant, although hidden problem. Secondary Traumatic Stress includes such reactions as depression, anxiety, persistent trauma imagery, sleep disturbances, mistrust of their organization, isolating from family/friends, frequent illness and loss of optimism, among other symptoms, due to the suffering that care providers are exposed to.

    The VitalHearts program is intended to revitalize care providers and save the careers of those who work with cancer patients and survivors by making them more resilient. This allows institutions to better retain their staff expertise, which gives crucial value to patients.

    "Being awarded the VitalHearts Community Impact Project grant from LIVESTRONG will have a significant, positive impact on cancer care for all of eastern North Carolina," said Holly Parrot Hill, cancer survivorship program coordinator for the Brody School of Medicine at ECU.

    "While the program will be offered through the Leo W. Jenkins Cancer Center, it will be available to providers throughout the cancer care continuum," Hill added. "This means addressing the stress, depression and burnout felt by general practitioners to hospice providers and everyone in between."

    "We are so appreciative of everyone who took action to bring the Community Impact Project to their communities," said Doug Ulman, LIVESTRONG foundation president and CEO. "The LIVESTRONG Foundation fights to improve the lives of people affected by cancer today, and by immediately implementing these proven programs that provide critical emotional and practical support to those facing cancer, we are helping more people live life on their own terms."

    More than 100 qualified hospitals, cancer centers, university students and community organizations in seven regions across the U.S. were selected to participate in the online voting campaign that determined the award recipients. Finalist organizations for the Community Impact Project were determined through an online voting campaign that accumulated more than 100,000 votes over an 18-day period. Finalists for the awards were determined by individual votes within each region.

    About Leo W. Jenkins Cancer Center

    The Leo W. Jenkins Cancer Center provides outpatient cancer services through a collaboration between Vidant Medical Center and the Brody School of Medicine at East Carolina University that brings cancer care and research together. By uniting cancer physicians, researchers, educators and staff from the cancer center, medical school and health system under a shared administrative structure, the center offers unprecedented opportunities for teamwork among the scientists in our labs and caregivers in our hospitals and clinics. Leo Jenkins Cancer Center aims to accelerate research related to cancer and improve the ability to translate these discoveries into the most advanced cancer care for patients. The expert staff at Leo W. Jenkins Cancer Center is a resource for patients wanting to learn how to manage their illness and take advantage of services available close to home.

    About the VitalHearts Resiliency Training Initiative

    VitalHearts: The Resiliency Training Initiative, a Denver, Colo., Trauma Training Center, has as its mission caring for care-providers. Dr. Henry Tobey, VitalHearts' founder, was selected in 1998 by the US Department of Justice, Office for Victims of Crime to develop a program to respond to the secondary traumatic consequences of victim service work. That program, the Vicarious Trauma Training (1999), represented the first effort by the Justice Department to address this problem, which affects all who work in victim service professions. Following the federal grant, Dr. Tobey developed a more comprehensive program, the Secondary Trauma Resiliency Training. This new training serves a broader population. It is available to those who work with traumatized individuals regardless of the cause of trauma. The training provides an emotionally intense learning experience, in which participants examine the complex relationship between their challenging, moral work and their private lives. Care providers find better ways to process the trauma they encounter so they do not have to pay such high personal costs.

    About the LIVESTRONG Foundation

    The LIVESTRONG Foundation fights to improve the lives of people affected by cancer now. Created in 1997, the Foundation is known for providing free cancer support services and advocating for policies that improve access to care and quality of life. Known for its powerful brand – LIVESTRONG – the Foundation has become a symbol of hope and inspiration around the world. Since its inception, the Foundation has served 2.5 million people affected by the disease and raised more than $500 million to support cancer survivors. One of America's top non-profit organizations, the Foundation has been recognized by industry leaders including Charity Navigator, the National Health Council and the Better Business Bureau for its excellent governance, high standards and transparency. For more information, visit LIVESTRONG.org.

    Contact: Beth Anne Atkins, Vidant Health Strategic Development, (252) 744-3891, or parrotthillh@ecu.edu

    Vidant Health, a mission-driven, not-for-profit corporation, owns, leases or has a majority membership interest in nine eastern North Carolina hospitals and has a management agreement with one other. The health system includes Albemarle Health, Vidant Beaufort Hospital, Vidant Bertie Hospital, Vidant Chowan Hospital, Vidant Duplin Hospital, Vidant Edgecombe Hospital, The Outer Banks Hospital, Vidant Medical Center, Vidant Pungo Hospital, Vidant Roanoke-Chowan Hospital, Vidant Home Health and Hospice, Vidant Wellness Centers, Vidant Medical Group and is affiliated with the Brody School of Medicine at East Carolina University. On the web at www.vidanthealth.com