The Family Cancer Resource Center held its grand opening on Feb. 20 at 5:30 p.m. The center is located at 55 West Main Street in Castle Dale in the Boyd’s Pharmacy building. Jackie Ungerman, chamber of commerce president and Mike Nelson, chairman were on hand to kick off the opening with a ribbon cutting ceremony.
The center is funded by a grant from the American Cancer Society Rocky Mountain Division. Cathy Sitterud welcomed everyone to the grand opening by saying, “This will be a benefit to the community and we are excited about it. Dory Kelsch has been a great help and encouragement to us, she is the regional cancer representative. She has provided us with a lot of support. The cancer society is dedicated to eliminating cancer. We will do this through advocacy and service. Our goal is to save lives with prevention and education.
“We encourage yearly checkups for early detection. We promote awareness. Each volunteer board member takes care of a program. Our telephone number is 381-2838 and our email is cancer@etv.net. We offer support to the community for those who’ve been effected by cancer. We’re here and available.
“We applied for and received a grant which has been used for books, pamphlets, informational videos and much more. We’ve also had a number of donations to help us get started. The office space is donated. A computer was donated by the Emery County commissioners. Internet access is being donated by Emery Telcom. Savage Industries donated a TV and VCR. We are currently looking for someone to help with the expenses of the phone line. We also will have a printer available so you can print out the information and take it home for further study. We will also have a copy machine.
“We can access the Huntsman Cancer Institute and the National Cancer Institute so people can come and research. We are open by appointment to help you find and look at what you need.
“Our program includes the Look Good and Feel Better program which I am in charge of. I will do a consultation with someone going through cancer treatment and help prepare them for hair loss. We have wigs and we have a lot of makeup that has been donated. I show them how to create eyebrows and give them personal support. They can also take the makeup home with them, said Sitterud.
Kathy Anderson said, “I am the chairman for early detection and education. We attend health fairs and set up booths to educate people. We really push the month of October which is breast cancer awareness month. We encourage all women to get their mammograms.”
Sitterud said, “Jamie Jensen is in charge of our Reach to Recovery program. She is a new volunteer with us and just getting this program going.” The program involves volunteers who visit with people before their surgeries. These volunteers have often faced the same difficulties the current patient is facing. They offer support and encouragement. They can help address the fears and feelings the patient is dealing with because they’ve been there.
Dana Olsen is the health education chairman. Olsen said, “I am the nurse for all the schools and I do presentations on tobacco and on eating healthy.”
Kathie Kearny Reaves is the Quality of Life chairman she said, “We offer emotional support to cancer victims. We also work with connecting them to available services.”
Rex Funk is the chairman of the Man to Man program. He said, “This is a support group and an advocacy group for early detection and prevention. We encourage anyone over 40 to have PSAs and yearly checkups. I became involved when I met Cathy one time at a commission meeting. I was encouraged by her enthusiasm. We want to provide a base of information for men. We also want to encourage women to become involved. Encourage your husbands to have their examinations.”
Tel-a-Friend is a program where friends telephone friends and remind them to get their mammograms and also to do self-examinations and get your checkups.
Emery Jones is in charge of tobacco control. He works with the peer helpers presenting programs to the schools.
Margaret Keller said, “I am the volunteer involvement chairman. We need help. All of our chairmen need committees. We need all of the volunteers we can get.”
Sitterud said, “We hold monthly meetings where we meet and talk and listen for names of those with cancer who might need our help We’re here and available. We hold three fundraisers each year. Our Relay for Life is scheduled for July 12 and 13. We are looking for help with the relay. The relay raises money for research. We are asking for an organization who would like to take it over. We want to keep it going.
“Our daffodil days fundraiser is going on right now. We are taking orders for bunches. They will be delivered March 11-15. They are treated and they won’t open up until you cut some off the bottom of the stem. They stay fresh for about 7-10 days. Daffodils are the cancer flower, they symbolize hope, freshness and encouragement. They are the first flowers of spring after a long winter.
Judi Bishop shared a story about daffodils. She said, “My sister was really sick and I had been staying with her and helping her out. One day she asked me to go and buy 12 dozen daffodil bulbs to plant outside her window. She said that when they bloomed next spring they would remind her of me because they are the cancer flower. So I went to Home Depot to get them and guess who helped me? It was Derek Parra who won a silver medal at the Olympics in speed skating.”
Sitterud encouraged everyone to get involved in Relay for Life. She said, “We always honor our cancer survivors with a survivors lap. We care a lot about our survivors. We decorate our tents and it’s a real family event. Businesses and other organizations get involved. We feed you. We have a great time and lots of laughs.”
“We would also like to get our golf tournament going. We need a chairman for this. This center is our newest project and it has been a long time in coming. But it’s here now,” said Sitterud.
Dr. Scott Hardy also spoke at the open house. He is the unit medical president. He spoke on prevention and early detection of cancer. Dori Kelsch also spoke on where money donated to the cancer society goes and where it is used.
Everyone is encouraged to use the new resource center to find out more about a disease that has touched everyone in one way or another.
Resource Center Holds Open House
