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BMT-Link to Train New
Volunteers
BMT-Link, a national organization that links patients considering
a bone marrow or stem cell transplant with survivors, will hold telephone
training sessions for new volunteers on May 6 and May 19, 1998. Volunteers will
participate in a one-hour evening teleconference coordinated by a BMT social
worker, nurse coordinator and psychologist. Participants will learn how to
respond appropriately to patient questions and provide emotional support.
The Link, which recently affiliated with the Karmanos Cancer
Center in Detroit MI, was founded in 1992. “Our focus is on the
psychosocial needs of patients,” says Link director Myra Jacobs. “We
don’t provide medical advice. Our job is to help patients through the
emotional challenge of a stem cell or bone marrow transplant.”
Participating in BMT-Link is rewarding for both patients and
volunteers, says Jacobs. “One volunteer, who had a single conversation
with a BMT patient, received a surprise call from the woman one year later. She
said that if it hadn’t been for our volunteer’s call, she never would
have made it through the transplant. ‘I kept thinking of you,’ she
said. ‘Your encouragement made all the difference.’ ”
Forty volunteers currently counsel patients. “We want to
double that number by next year,” says Jacobs. The Link is particularly
seeking volunteers who were transplanted for myelodysplasia, ALL when they were
adults, lymphoma, or breast cancer when over age 50. Volunteers must be at
least one year post-transplant.
For more information, call 800-546-5268. |
