Wellness Community Targets Latino Patients

Hoping to help more Latino cancer patients in the San Fernando Valley, a new effort is underway to provide support groups and a telephone hotline for Spanish speakers.

To kick off the initiative, Wellness Community staff members and volunteers will hold an open house for cancer patients and their families tonight at a Catholic church in Canoga Park.

“There are only a few Latino cancer support groups in Southern California,” said Marty Nason, program director of Wellness Community Valley/Ventura, a nonprofit organization in Westlake Village that organizes support groups and holds classes, such as yoga, for cancer patients. “We know that there are a large number of Latino cancer patients and they are not getting this type of services in the Valley.”

The idea for the outreach project was sparked by staff members who sensed that something was amiss with the 450 cancer patients they served each month.

“We started to look around and we said to ourselves, what is wrong here? Everyone in this program is white,” Nason said.

The staff began a six-month needs-assessment study, during which they interviewed about 60 agencies, community-based organizations and health-care providers around the Valley. They found that the area sorely needed programs that were easily accessible and not intimidating for its growing Spanish-speaking community.

“There is so much work to be done,” said Dorothy Means, director of cancer control for the American Cancer Society’s San Fernando Valley unit, which participated in several focus groups for the needs-assessment study. The Wellness Community is “doing something that is very needed and special,” Means said.

Tonight’s open house will be held from 6 to 8 p.m. at Our Lady of the Valley Catholic Church, 22021 Gault St. Bilingual throughout, the meeting will feature a Latino cancer survivor speaking about his experiences. Also on hand will be Spanish-speaking volunteers, many of them cancer survivors, to welcome patients and family members and to answer questions.

Over the next few months, volunteers will continue outreach efforts, organize support groups and staff the help line, said Betty Rodriguez, coordinator for the Wellness Community’s Latino Outreach project.

For more information, cancer patients and their families may call (888) 707-9355 for help in Spanish or (805) 379-4777 for English.