Vilmarie R.

Early in my career, I worked as a cancer care technician at Calvary Hospital, the only hospital in the U.S. dedicated to providing hospice and palliative care to adult patients with advanced cancer and other life-limiting illnesses, for almost 5 years. Though I was originally on the waitlist for Lehman College’s nursing program, I started looking into social work and knew that as long as oncology remained my focus, it would be a fulfilling career for me.

Cancer is very different from any other illness, and individuals living with cancer can sometimes lose themselves and forget who they were prior to the diagnosis. While they can get support at their treatment centers, clients often express feeling hurried or not comfortable discussing difficult issues like struggling to communicate with their doctor or feeling like they are at odds with the treatment regimen. At CancerCare, we ensure that our clients feel heard and validated throughout one of the most difficult periods of their lives, offering strategies for speaking with their treatment team, tips for exploring second opinions and assistance locating new resources. However they utilize our free services, we give clients an opportunity to process what they are going through and a chance to find themselves again.

I love being responsible for CancerCare’s financial assistance programs and hearing from clients on a daily basis how our assistance impacts them. Whether enabling them to access care, addressing transportation issues, helping pay for much needed medication and supplies, the pride I feel is indescribable. Speaking to clients and their families about how our programs helped them provides me with the fuel I need to continue to do this work and work even harder to ensure that we reach more patients each year.