Traveling out of your hometown for special cancer treatment is sometimes the best option to receive the right treatment. The American Cancer Society (ACS) is a nationwide voluntary health organization, dedicated to eliminating cancer and creating different cancer fundraising campaigns.They also have multiple locations across the country where cancer patients and their caregivers can obtain help when home is far away— American Cancer Society Hope Lodges.
What is an ASC Hope Lodge?
An ACS Hope Lodge is a place where cancer patients and their caregivers can find hope and benefit from accommodations that help them through their cancer journey. Today, there are 32 Hope Lodges across the country, with several more in development.
A Hope Lodge offers a variety of resources and information about fighting the disease. Some values of The ACS Hope Lodge are to help patients and their caregivers understand the patient’s diagnosis and to help target the appropriate treatment. The Hope Lodges are also proactive on survivorship, which is their way of providing tips to live a healthy lifestyle, during and after treatment. Survivorship also inspires patients and caregivers by sharing stories about other people whose lives have been touched by cancer.
The ACS’s main goal of rehabilitation is to give any patient the opportunity to receive care that will improve their health. There are two main factors that aid the ACS Hope Lodge in accomplishing that goal: providing comfortable living for patients and breaking down financial barriers.
Help and Hope, Far Away From Home
For cancer patients and their caregivers, the search for a valuable place to stay while receiving the best cancer treatment possible is perpetual. This is where The ACS Hope Lodge steps in. More than 44,000 cancer patients and their caregivers received rooms from The ACS Hope Lodge in 2016. This statistic goes to show the ACS is willing to do whatever it takes to treat cancer patients who are in dire need of a safe, clean and comfortable residence. The ACS wants to increase that number in 2017 and continue to provide a complacent household for cancer patients and caregivers.
The ACS Hope Lodge makes sure that cancer patients have a place to stay when their treatment takes place. Each Hope Lodge facility provides guests with comfortable private rooms, inviting community spaces to connect with others and multiple resources and information to assist patients through their cancer journey. Their purpose is to be nurturing, to create a “home-like” environment and to make patients feel comfortable, like they would at their own home.
Breaking Financial Barriers
Figuring out how to pay for treatment is not an issue at an ACS Hope Lodge. In 2016, there were thousands of free nights of shelter and care for patients and caregivers at ACS Hope Lodges across America, which saved an estimated $36 million. ACS Hope Lodges continue to break down those financial barriers to continue saving lives. Those who are fighting cancer and also struggling financially may not be able to afford the right treatment. If this is the case, there is no better place for patients to stay than an ACS Hope Lodge. Money is not a factor when it comes to their healthcare; The Hope Lodge worries about more important problems than money. Their priority is on their main goal—getting better!
From the outside, you might view it as any other cancer center, but inside the walls of ACS Hope Lodge, it’s easy to recognize its value; it’s a place for cancer patients and caregivers to get well, to find healing and hope. The ACS Hope Lodge is where aspiration lives. Hope Lodges provides the opportunity for anyone affected by cancer, at any socioeconomic level, to stay in a facility that is nurturing and supportive. It truly improves quality of life, not only for the cancer patient and his or her family, but for the whole community!
