FOUNTAIN VALLEY : Cancer Hot Line Business Booming

More than 2,500 people have turned to the Cancer Information Center and Helpline for everything from wigs to a comforting voice since the service started almost a year ago on the campus of Fountain Valley Regional Hospital and Medical Center.

“When people hear that word cancer, they don’t hear anything else the doctor says and then they call us to get information,” said Joanne O’Heany, who helped start the Helpline.

The service is a joint effort between the American Cancer Society and the Orange County Regional Cancer Center on the hospital’s campus. About 15 volunteers answer the hot line from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m., Monday through Friday.

The most common requests, O’Heany said, come from women wanting information about low-cost mammograms and support group meetings.

“Sometimes it’s people who just want someone to talk to,” she said. “They may be alone or they don’t have family in the area or their family can’t deal with the disease.”

The Helpline receives about 300 calls a month, O’Heany said. About 60 to 80 people a month will visit the center, located at the rear of the hospital at 11250 Warner Ave.

The Cancer Information Center also offers other services, including a wig bank for people who have lost their hair undergoing treatment and can’t afford to buy a hairpiece.

O’Heany said cancer patients are given a terry cloth turban and can borrow among the nearly 300 wigs that have been donated. A recent donation brought 164 new wigs from a Massachusetts wig company and a local business gave 17 wigs. Men’s wigs are also needed.

Hospital equipment for home use is also loaned out. Donated goods, such as nutritional supplements and adult diapers, are given away. And volunteers will arrange transportation for people who need a ride to a doctor’s office or hospital.

To reach the Helpline, call (714) 513-5565. The American Cancer Society also has a countywide hot line, (714) 751-0441, and one for Chinese-speaking people, (714) 863-2500. Spanish and Korean hot lines are planned within six months.