Around AOSW

This is my last column as your President. I am so proud of the work our staff, board and member volunteers have accomplished together this year. There are some goals that are not as near completion as I had hoped due to shifts in priorities, changing resources or the inevitable shifts of needs. I’ve discovered that my AOSW agenda is much like the to-do list I try to leave every night to manage my patient load the next day. Inevitably, someone decides their goals have changed and now they need “y” when I had already worked on “x,” someone has a delightful opportunity that needs support and someone else had a catastrophe that did not wait for my business hours. These are the challenges that make oncology social work both frustrating and fun.

Gather With AOSW in Atlanta, Georgia

Will you join us in the spring in the Peach State? The 2018 AOSW 34th Annual Conference will take place in Atlanta, Georgia, May 30 – June 1 at the Atlanta Marriott Marquis. Registration will open in January.

“Guided by Best Practices in Pivotal Times” is the focus of the 2018 conference. We hope you are curious and enthusiastic about attending to learn about best practices and garnering tools to help guide your own practices.

Director's Report—Membership

On January 20, 1961, the 35th U.S. President, John F. Kennedy, gave his inaugural address. He ended with a quote that is still famous nearly 57 years later: “And so, my fellow Americans: ask not what your country can do for you—ask what you can do for your country.” My fellow AOSW members, what can you do for AOSW?

Clinical Content: Therapeutic and Healing Art for Patients With Lung Cancer

An emotional and effective 15-minute play, “The Invitation,” opened the NYU Cancer Center’s annual Lung Awareness Program. Members of the Lung Cancer Support Group played characters based on their own stories.

Brain Tumor SIG: Healing Arts Activities Provide Connections for Patients and Their Caregivers

Facilitating a support group specifically for patients with a brain tumor and their caregivers comes with many challenges and rewards. Our skills as facilitators for these types of support groups are often challenged as these patients may have unique cognitive, visual and attention deficits. Connecting patients to caregivers who understand the unique issues that come with this population can be very helpful in their ability to cope.

Research: Towards Building a Bridge Between Researchers and Practitioners

This is my final column as the AOSW Research Director, and I want to review some of the activities and accomplishments of the Research Committee over the last three years. In my view, the main function of the Research Committee is to serve as a bridge between oncology social work researchers and practitioners. My goal has been to make sure that this bridge goes two ways—that is, to enable researchers and practitioners to communicate with each other.

Advocacy - 2017: A Year for Coalition Advocacy

This has been a busy year for AOSW in the advocacy arena. We started in January by issuing a Statement of Health Policy Principles. Based on these principles, AOSW issued public statements of opposition to several attempts in Congress to repeal the Affordable Care Act (ACA). We were not alone in these efforts. Soon cancer advocacy organizations were working together to fight the efforts to repeal the ACA. The National Coalition for Cancer Survivorship (NCCS) spearheaded several successful social media campaigns to demonstrate a powerful unified voice standing up to preserve the patient protections established in the ACA, like this one from July:

Kudos! Achievements of AOSW Members

Kudos to Susan Hedlund, LCSW, OSW-C, who has been nominated and confirmed for the position of Vice-Chair of the Member Organization Steering Committee for the American College of Surgeons Commission on Cancer. This is a one year term which began October 22, 2017.