The University of New Mexico Comprehensive Cancer Center recently secured more grant funding to help patients and their families reach their treatments in Albuquerque.
The American Cancer Society (ACS) awarded the UNM Comprehensive Cancer Center two grants totaling more than $45,000, with $20,370 to assist patients with transportation to the center and $25,000 to help cover lodging expenses when they get here.
New Mexico is a largely rural state, and the UNM Cancer Center is the only National Cancer Institute-designated comprehensive cancer center within 500 miles of Albuquerque. The grants play a crucial role in making sure New Mexicans can access the care and treatment they need.
The costs associated with transportation and lodging continue to put pressure on patients and their families who struggle with how to get here for treatment and, in some cases, how to stay near their loved ones and support them through the process.
This is the fourth year the UNM Cancer Center will receive transportation assistance and this year’s grant is more than double the $10,000 received last year.
This is the second year the ACS has offered lodging assistance and the amount is the same as last year’s grant.
“The costs associated with transportation and lodging continue to put pressure on patients and their families who struggle with how to get here for treatment and, in some cases, how to stay near their loved ones and support them through the process,” said Jill Schulke, MSW, LCSW, Patient Family Support Services director at the UNM Cancer Center. “Programs like these ACS grants help us try to alleviate that stress so our patients can focus on getting better.”
For many years, the UNM Cancer Center has provided transportation and lodging assistance to patients and the money has been written into the Patient Family Support Services budget.
The ACS grants help to fund that budget, as do in-kind donations and money raised from the annual Lobo Cancer Challenge event every fall.
All of those funding sources continue to be a part of the Patient Family Support Services Budget and the Lobo Cancer Challenge has even begun taking registration for its 2023 event.
UNM Comprehensive Cancer Center
The University of New Mexico Comprehensive Cancer Center is the Official Cancer Center of New Mexico and the only National Cancer Institute-designated Cancer Center in a 500-mile radius.
Its more than 136 board-certified oncology specialty physicians include cancer surgeons in every specialty (abdominal, thoracic, bone and soft tissue, neurosurgery, genitourinary, gynecology, and head and neck cancers), adult and pediatric hematologists/medical oncologists, gynecologic oncologists, and radiation oncologists. They, along with more than 600 other cancer healthcare professionals (nurses, pharmacists, nutritionists, navigators, psychologists and social workers), provide treatment to 65% of New Mexico’s cancer patients from all across the state and partner with community health systems statewide to provide cancer care closer to home. They treated almost 15,000 patients in more than 100,000 ambulatory clinic visits in addition to in-patient hospitalizations at UNM Hospital.
A total of nearly 1,855 patients participated in cancer clinical trials testing new cancer treatments that include tests of novel cancer prevention strategies and cancer genome sequencing.
The more than 123 cancer research scientists affiliated with the UNMCCC were awarded $38.2 million in federal and private grants and contracts for cancer research projects. Since 2015, they have published nearly 1000 manuscripts, and promoting economic development, they filed 136 new patents and launched 10 new biotechnology start-up companies.
Finally, the physicians, scientists and staff have provided education and training experiences to more than 500 high school, undergraduate, graduate, and postdoctoral fellowship students in cancer research and cancer health care delivery.