Family Support

While a patient is undergoing treatment, it so often happens that many other things around the house go on the back burner, since treatment requires so much time and energy from the family as a whole.  This is where friends and colleagues can step in and do many ‘little things’ that reduce the family’s stress and help them maintain some degree of normalcy in life.

• Offer to organize a “transportation pool” - setting up a schedule of who will drive when, so the family knows it will be handled. This is one less detail they have to worry about.
  
• Provide child care for other children at home when needed. Offer to call other friends of the family and organize a child care schedule.
  
• If other children are at home, offer to drive them to lessons, sports events, or other activities they usually go to, so that they don't miss out on their usual routines.
  
• Offer to go grocery shopping for the family, clean the house, do laundry, mow the lawn, take care of pets, or any of the numerous small things that are associated with running a household.
  
• Prepare meals for the family; whether you freeze them so the family has a convenient “heat-'em-and-eat-'em" meal, or deliver them hot and ready to eat is always appreciated.
  
• Offer to run errands for the family.
  
• If the patient is in the hospital for any length of time, and the adult(s) in the house spend long days with him/her, pack a lunch or healthy snack for the adult.
  
• When appropriate, offer to drive children to the hospital to visit the patient.
  
• Offer to setup a - “patient up-date” - web site or through social media (facebook/twitter) phone tree so the family has to contact only one person, rather than several, to keep everyone informed of the patient's progress.
  
• Make a video with friends and family, in which everyone records a special message for the patient; deliver it to the family or directly to the patient, if allowed.
  
• Find out what kinds of gifts the hospital will allow the patient to receive so you can ensure friends and family are sending the patient something special on a regular basis
  
• Organize a fund-raising event to help the family pay expenses not covered by insurance, or to compensate for lost income.
  
• Conduct research for the family to find other sources of financial assistance.
  
• Offer to organize a home 'wash-down' before the patient comes home from the hospital, following guidelines set by the hospital medical team. This will ensure a clean and safe environment.
  
• When appropriate, do something special for the spouse/partner of the patient to help him/her reduce stress. For example, take him/her out to dinner, arrange for a massage, or take an hour and go for a long walk outdoors.
  
• While your flower garden is at full bloom, create a bouquet of flowers to deliver to the patient’s family to show them you’re thinking of them.  
  
• Connect with the family’s church, synagogue, or other house of worship.  Religious communities are great sources for support for a family, and members will often volunteer to help fill in the gaps to meet the family’s needs.  
  
• Find out what restaurants, coffee shops, etc. are in or near the treatment center the patient will go to, then take up a collection among friends, neighbors, or co-workers and buy gift cards the family can use while with the patient at the treatment center.
  
• Holidays can be especially stressful for a family with a patient fighting blood cancer.  Get neighbors, friends, and/or co-workers together to create holiday food baskets, helpful gifts, funny videos, etc. to brighten the holidays for the family.