Help for Caregivers, Families & Friends

If a family member or friend is leaving the hospital and requires extra help at home, including home care or other aftercare, equipment, or supplies, please speak to the case manager on his or her floor in charge of discharge planning.

If a family member or friend is an outpatient and is in need of extra help at home, please speak to his or her doctor or nurse, who will coordinate such care with Case Management.

Depending on the details of an individual's insurance coverage and the clinical situation, certain services, equipment, and supplies may or may not be covered. If a service is not covered, you case manager can provide you with information about fee-for-service companies.

	Flash Player is required to view this video. Linda Horowitz Freedman, wife of an eight-year survivor of lung cancer, recounts the effect of her husband's illness on family life. Run Time: 10 minutes

Family members and friends who handle the responsibility of caring for a cancer patient can join other caregivers in a supportive environment to share their feelings and concerns. These meetings are held in various locations throughout the Memorial Sloan-Kettering, and in some cases, are convened for the caregivers of patients with specific types of cancers.

Contact for Memorial Sloan-Kettering Patients

To find out about caregiver programs, ask the patient's doctor, nurse, or social worker or call the Department of Social Work at 212-639-7020.

This guide was prepared for the caregivers of Memorial Sloan-Kettering patients, but it contains helpful resources and advice for all caregivers. This is a 39-page pdf file. You will need Adobe Acrobat^® Reader to view the PDF. Get Adobe Acrobat^® Reader.

Kids Express is an individualized program designed to help adult cancer patients communicate with their children about their illness. The Department of Social Work offers consultations and educational material to patients and families.

Contacts for Memorial Sloan-Kettering Patients

To arrange a consultation, please ask a social worker or call the Kids Express consultation line at 212-639-7029.

Individual and family counseling, offered through the Department of Psychiatry, may also be helpful. To contact the Department of Psychiatry, call 646-888-0100.

Massage techniques can help alleviate certain symptoms and discomfort associated with cancer and cancer treatment. A monthly hands-on workshop for family and friends of Memorial Sloan-Kettering patients teaches how and when to use massage, the benefits and precautions of massage for patients with cancer, and basic massage techniques. For more information, call the Integrative Medicine Service at 212-639-6059.

The Bendheim Integrative Medicine Center is open to families and friends of Memorial Sloan-Kettering patients. Therapies provided can help alleviate stress and anxiety, increase self-awareness, enhance a sense of well-being, and help prevent health-related problems.

Therapies at the spa-like facility include massage, acupuncture, hypnotherapy, meditation, nutritional counseling, music therapy, and movement and therapy classes such as yoga.

For more information about these fee-for-service therapies or to make an appointment, call 212-639-4700 or visit us online.

Memorial Sloan-Kettering's Pain and Palliative Care Service has special expertise in palliative care and the management of cancer related pain and other symptoms, such as fatigue, insomnia, and nausea. Whether in the hospital, at home, or in a long-term care facility, the Pain and Palliative Care Service can help with symptom management and palliative care. Your doctor or nurse can refer you to a member of the Pain and Palliative Care Service.

Palliative Care focuses on the relief of pain and other symptoms such as nausea, fatigue, and depression. These symptoms may be encountered by cancer patients during active treatment; and often, most problematically, if the cancer progresses.

Memorial Sloan-Kettering's Pain and Palliative Care Service specializes in the treatment of these symptoms and can be contacted at any stage of illness. Your doctor or nurse can refer you to a member of the Pain & Palliative Care Service.

The Clinical Genetics Service at Memorial Sloan-Kettering has specially trained counselors and physicians who offer genetic counseling, genetic testing, and education regarding cancer risk to you and your family members. This information may be helpful as you make decisions regarding your medical care and possible risk for other cancers.

The Clinical Genetics Service may be of assistance to you if

• you or a close relative has been diagnosed with with cancer at an early age
• you have more than one blood relative with the same type of cancer
• any one person in your family have more than one type of cancer
• anyone in your family has been diagnosed with bilateral (both sides) of cancer of paired organs, such as breasts, ovaries, or kidneys
• you are related to someone who is known to have an inherited genetic mutation that can cause cancer.

Contacts for Memorial Sloan-Kettering Patients

For consultations regarding genetic counseling, genetic testing, prophylactic (risk-reducing) surgery, and related issues, please call 646-888-4050.

Memorial Sloan-Kettering also has a psychologist specializing in decision-making and emotional stresses associated with an inherited predisposition to cancer. If you have already had genetic counseling and wish to meet with Dr. Hurley, please call 646-888-0100.

Although many people complete their treatment and survive cancer, or experience long-term control of their disease, some do not. Memorial Sloan-Kettering offers services to help family and friends at this difficult time.

Bereavement Groups

People who have lost someone close to them to cancer -- such as a spouse, parent, sibling, or adult child -- may find support and solance in talking with others who are also grieving. The Departments of Social Work, and Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences offer support groups for people with such needs. To learn more, or to join a bereavement support group, contact the Social Work Department at 212-639-7020.

Toward Tomorrow

For families that have lost a child to cancer, the Toward Tomorrow program helps parents come to terms with their loss. Parents are invited to join a monthly support meeting to remember and honor the special children treated here. Call 212-639-6850 for more information about this program.

Religious & Spiritual Counseling

When a patient dies, family and friends often find comfort and strength through the services of Memorial Sloan-Kettering's chaplains of the Catholic, Jewish, Protestant, and Muslim religions. Visits from clergy of other religions can also be arranged.

The Mary French Rockefeller Chapel, a multifaith chapel near the main lobby on the first floor of Memorial Hospital, is open at all times for meditation and prayer. Services are held weekly, and on all holy days.

Contacts for Memorial Sloan-Kettering Patients

To contact the Department of Chaplaincy Services, call 212-639-5982. To contact the Psychiatry Office, call 646-888-0200.

Our counselors are experienced in structuring counseling sessions to meet the specific needs of each person. These counseling sessions are most often structured as individual, couples, or family sessions, but the Counseling Center also sponsors some group sessions for patients or family members who might benefit from working with others in similar circumstances.

Counseling Center staff may also refer patients to other mental health specialists for longer-term counseling. Our counselors are available not only as an outpatient resource, they are also available to patients during their hospital stays.