CanCare Support Group Thanks Emory Johns Creek Healthcare Workers

JOHNS CREEK, GA — The COVID-19 pandemic has taken its toll in many ways, leaving no one untouched. One organization that has experienced the impact of the pandemic is CanCare, a national network of volunteers who provide emotional support and hope to cancer patients and their caregivers. The volunteers are themselves cancer survivors and caregivers of cancer patients. But the coronavirus has disrupted their efforts of the CanCare volunteers. Could something as simple as cookies help compensate?

CanCare was founded in Houston. The Atlanta chapter was organized through the efforts of Kay Royal, with home base at Johns Creek Presbyterian Church. She and her family had moved to this area from Houston, where she was a cancer survivor and a subsequent CanCare volunteer.

The local chapter partners with the Emory Hospital Johns Creek medical staff, where CanCare members visit patients in the hospital and infusion center. Volunteers are primarily from Fulton, Forsyth and Gwinnett counties.

Hospital visits stopped when the coronavirus arrived early in 2020. As the pandemic rolled into September, CanCare volunteers realized that it would be months before they could return to visiting cancer patients. While they realized they could not help in person, they wanted the nursing staff to know that they were appreciated.

Perhaps homemade cookies might convey that appreciation. Taking homemade cookies to the nursing staff would be a reminder that CanCare had not forgotten them and the extra load they had to shoulder during these times. CanCare members realized that the chaplains at Emory Johns Creek also were carrying the extra load of spiritual support for patients and their families during cancer treatment. So, the chaplain’s office was included for cookies.

The cookie delivery team members delivered the first cookies in September and continue to provide them every week. Cookie bakers include Brenda Hydrick, Kay Royal, Nan Berninger, Mireille Whritenour, Rose Harris, Jane LaRoque, Candy Wynn, Terri Brown, Ann Shevlin, and Jane Radman.

Homemade cookies are delivered to the Winship Infusion Center at Johns Creek and the Oncology Unit and chaplain’s office at Emory Johns Creek Hospital.

Royal, now hospital programs manager for CanCare Atlanta, said, “We want the nursing staff and chaplains to know how much we appreciate the loving care they give to patients and their families with cancer and how much we care about them, even though we can’t be there in person.”

Royal said that CanCare offers “a survivor by your side” as patients and their families go through cancer treatment and the anxiety it brings.

“For any cancer survivor of more than six months, or a caregiver of a loved one with cancer, CanCare offers an opportunity for volunteers to share hope and inspiration with others newly diagnosed with cancer,” she said.

The next volunteer training is scheduled for September. Information is available on the CanCare website or call Kay Royal at 678-977-1467.