Wallet Card Disaster Response Program

Innovation in Connecting Cancer Patients to Oncology Care During an Emergency

Natural disasters such as Hurricane Katrina do more than devastate structures and halt the flow of critically needed foodstuffs and public services, they can also interrupt vitally important forms of medical care for cancer patients. As a response to the very real problem of natural disaster-interrupted cancer therapies, the National Cancer Institute (NCI) and its Cancer Information Service (CIS) has joined forces with the American Society of Clinical Oncology (ASCO) to initiate a pilot program designed to keep cancer patients connected to their oncology care during a major weather event disaster or other community-wide emergency situation.

The above-mentioned NCI/ASCO collaboration has resulted in the recent issuance of a Disaster Response Wallet Card (DRWC) to cancer patients who are eligible to participate in the new program. At the present time, the DRWC is in limited supply and can only be provided to patients who are currently enrolled in an oncology treatment practice located in the hurricane prone Gulf and Eastern coastal regions of the country. Those who qualify can order the card by calling the CIS toll-free at 1-800-4-CANCER.

The DRWC is designed to provide cancer patients and health care professionals with critically needed information at a time of environmental crisis and extraordinarily high levels of psychological stress. Information on the card includes:

Directions to ASCO's www.cancer.net Web site
The national toll-free phone number for the NCI's Cancer Information Service (1-800-4-CANCER), as well as LiveHelp, E-mail, and instant messaging services information

The NCI's CIS branch will help to facilitate the sharing of medical information between patients, family members, physicians, and support health care personnel, all of whom may become separated during a natural disaster. Specifically, the CIS will: join with ASCO in an effort to unite cancer patients with their medical care providers; compile contact information that it will subsequently supply to an ASCO health care provider registry; provide cancer patients with enhanced telephonic and other communications services during a time of widespread utility outages, and utilize its considerable resources to disseminate disaster-related communications.

More Wallet Card Information

In addition to emergency-based communications services information, the DRWC will also have a space where cancer patients can enter their name, current diagnosis, and specific therapies they are receiving for their disease. The preceding information can prove to be invaluable during a time when medical records can become lost or destroyed; cancer physicians and other health care providers can put the card-contained information to swift and effective use when individuals, for a variety of reasons, cannot clearly inform others about the specific circumstances of their malignant disease.

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