Macmillan nurses
The Cancer Relief Macmillan Fund (CRMF) was set up in 1911 to provide care and support for cancer patients. This national charity now helps to improve the quality of life for cancer patients and their families at home, in hospitals and in special cancer units.
The CRMF has trained more than 1000 Macmillan nurses who work in the community and in hospitals around Britain. It continues to fund these specially trained nurses for up to 3 years in posts in hospitals, after which the health authority takes over the financial responsibility.
A GP or district nurse may suggest involving a Macmillan nurse to help care for a woman with incurable breast cancer. Macmillan nurses play a similar role to that of hospice-based nurses, giving advice and emotional support to women and their families, and working closely with other medical professionals to advise about pain relief and symptom control as necessary. They are also involved in the training of doctors and nurses to help them develop the special skills required for the care of cancer patients and, with hospice staff, have been largely responsible for the increased awareness of other health professionals to the particular care these patients need.
Other treatment centers
There are a few private centers in Britain which advocate special non-medical therapies to help people ‘fight’ or live with cancer. Your GP, consultant or a specialist nurse should be able to give you details of such centers in your area, or you can contact one of the associations whose addresses are given in Appendix I. Although alternative therapy centers are not funded by the NHS, some have trust funds to help meet the costs for those who cannot afford them.
One such complementary treatment centre is The Bristol Cancer Help Centre which, despite some bad publicity based on inaccurate reports, has been responsible for helping many people with cancer to lead full and satisfying lives and to come to terms with their disease. An increasing number of people contact the centre for advice when their cancer is first diagnosed, and the current climate in Britain which encourages people to play an active role in their own health care is in part responsible for this.
The Cancer Help Centre provides support to cancer sufferers and teaches a holistic approach to cancer therapy based on looking at ways of improving people’s mental, spiritual and medical health. It emphasizes the learning of coping devices such as meditation, relaxation and visualization techniques to help people deal with the stress in their lives, as well as encouraging them to eat highly nutritious diets – both of which strategies are aimed at helping to improve the ability of the body’s immune system to fight disease and to respond to medication. The highly nourishing diets the centre recommends and the use of vitamin and other dietary supplements are based on the generally accepted findings of research into the effects of diet on the development and course of disease.
The Bristol Cancer Help Centre is just one example of centers throughout Britain which offer a complementary approach to cancer therapy which can be practiced alongside conventional surgical and medical treatment.
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