Gary Rodin, MD, from the Princess Margaret Cancer Centre, Toronto, Canada, talks about how the CALM (managing cancer and living meaningfully) intervention is a simple but very valuable idea. The two main components needed are time and space. However, cancer clinic visits are often brief and not enough time is spent for patients and families. He explains that any patient or family member that has gone through cancer understands the importance of supportive care interventions like this.
Cancer centres have not been well set up to deliver these interventions and there has not been much funding. This is however the least expensive and most cost-effective aspect of cancer care. It is therefore important for cancer centres to place value on this and create space and provide supporting staff to deliver the intervention.
Recorded at the American Society of Oncology (ASCO) 2017 Annual Meeting held in Chicago, IL.
