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Our story - from Cancer Wellness House to Survivor Wellness
The journey has been anything but ordinary. With every step, we've focused on supporting those impacted by cancer and the people who love them.
Survivor Wellness is a nonprofit organization providing free and reduced cost cancer wellness and integrative healthcare services and support to cancer survivors and their caregivers in a home-like setting.
Programming addresses mental, emotional, physical, social, spiritual and financial health of those impacted by a cancer diagnosis in the Salt Lake Valley and beyond, and includes counseling, group and peer support, therapeutic services, and group wellness activities. Our vision is to provide person centered, evidence-based care in a community-based, non-clinical setting without increasing the financial burden of cancer.
At the time of its founding in 1997 as Cancer Wellness House, the organization was a unique resource in the Intermountain west, as the only place delivering wellness services to cancer survivors and their caregivers. In intervening years, most hospitals and clinics provide similar services; however three obstacles prevent success in those settings:
1) Many cancer survivors cannot afford or access many of those services,
2) Availability of those services is limited,
3) Services are delivered in a hospital or clinic setting, which can re-introduce trauma associated with medical treatment for cancer, and
4) There are few opportunities for social and community support in the settings mentioned above.
Where Survivor Wellness excels is in providing clinical services in an at-home setting with abundant opportunities for social interaction and community-based support.
Survivor Wellness is a cancer care community, a sanctuary in the heart of the city.
Why Survivor Wellness?
Programming is specific to the needs of those who have undergone a cancer diagnosis and treatment, and complements (but does not replace) standard medical treatment. Indeed, many cancer survivors live for years beyond treatment with cancer-related treatment effects which impact every aspect of their lives. With the care provided at Survivor Wellness, members show improved health outcomes and increased quality of life.
Programming at Survivor Wellness includes: individual counseling, coaching and case management; facilitated group & peer support (to address mental-emotional issues and social isolation); therapeutic bodywork services (to address the physical effects of living with and beyond cancer treatment); and therapeutic fitness & movement classes (to rebuild physical capacity). Such services and support are not readily available to most cancer survivors, and are often financially out of reach of many individuals who suffer from the financial impact of cancer. In addition, and perhaps more impactfully, there are ample opportunities for social interaction in a home-like setting, which increases the positive impact of programming at Survivor Wellness.
I am quite certain that without the support of Survivor Wellness, it is unlikely that I would be here today, let alone remaining thriving and active while still battling Stage 4 cancer.
—Joe G., member since 2022