PORT ANGELES — When a cancer patient travels to Sequim to receive radiation treatment and needs a place to stay, Olympic Medical Center’s cancer center often has a solution.
The treatment can be every day for six weeks, said Julie Carlson, the cancer center’s oncology patient navigator, and patients sometimes travel from as far away as Joyce, Forks or Neah Bay.
In those cases, Carlson arranges overnight stays at the Quality Inn in Sequim, so patients don’t have to travel back and forth.
Thanks to community donations, the Peninsula Home Fund contributed a $10,000 grant through Olympic View Community Foundation and the OMC Foundation to help those instances this year.
“We assist cancer patients in removing any practical barriers that may interfere with them having the most successful outcomes,” Carlson said.
Community members have contributed $99,288.30 to the Peninsula Home Fund since Thanksgiving toward this year’s grant cycle, which will be administered through a partnership with Olympic View Community Foundation this spring.
Although fundraising occurs throughout the year, a special campaign is conducted annually through the holiday season for the Home Fund, now in its 36th year.
Grant applications will be due in mid-February, and winners will be announced in April.
Donations, along with the names of the donors — should they elect to have them published — will be presented in the Peninsula Daily News throughout the campaign.
Over the years, the Peninsula Home Fund has raised more than $5.05 million for those in need on the Peninsula.
From children’s pennies to checks for thousands of dollars, each donation makes a difference, helping people from Port Townsend to Forks, from Quilcene and Brinnon to Sequim, Port Angeles, Joyce and La Push.
All contributions are fully federally tax-deductible for the year in which the check is written.
Those who wish to donate can mail checks to Peninsula Daily News, P.O. Box 1330, Port Angeles, WA, 98362, or to Olympic View Community Foundation, P.O. Box 3651, Sequim, WA, 98382.
An online option is available at https://ov-cf.org/peninsula-home-fund-donation.
For OMC’s patient navigator program, funding has helped contribute in a variety of ways, from Safeway gift cards that can be used for gas or food, taxi vouchers for transportation or wigs for those who lose their hair during the treatment process.
In addition to a social worker who focuses on mental health, Carlson works to manage patients’ stress levels, and she said they’re most often related to financial burdens.
“There are many categories, but they are mostly patients that are isolated, living alone and in conditions that are less than ideal,” Carlson said. “Many have no family, with very little to no income.
“Most of them are seniors, a significant portion of our population, and they have limitations associated with older age.”
Carlson, who has a Leadership in Oncology and Navigation certification through the American Cancer Society, said some funds are used for nutritious drinks, rent or mortgage assistance and even ferry vouchers for when patients have appointments in Seattle.
In one case, funding helped pay for landscaping at a patient’s home, Carlson said, because the man was no longer working after his cancer diagnosis and shrubbery on his property was giving him trouble.
The nutritious drinks are especially helpful for those who have esophageal cancer and have difficulty speaking or swallowing, Carlson said.
An additional challenge the cancer center has faced this year is from federal changes to the Medicare and Medicare Advantage programs, said Carlson, who added her phone has been “ringing off the hook” with people who want to know how it will affect their insurance or prescription coverage.
“The numbers have been steadily rising,” she said. “It’s busy, and I don’t think that’s going to change much.”
For the Peninsula Home Fund, the following is a donor list from Dec. 31 through Wednesday:
Name and amount
• Jerry and Jackie Schwagler, Quilcene, $2,500.
• John and Christine Usher, Port Angeles, $50.
Name only
• Eve Farrell, Port Angeles.
• Eleanor P. Schoen and Constance Engvall, Sequim.
• Pam and Jim Walton, Port Angeles.
• Michael Scott, Sequim.
• Jan Morgan, Port Angeles, in loving memory of Ray Morgan.
• Neil and Jaqueline Eklund, Sequim.
• Frances Russo, Port Angeles, for Pasquale Temperio.
• Pat Wisen, Sequim.
• Steve Conner and Weezie Jenkins, Port Townsend.
Anonymous
• Port Angeles, $200.
• Port Angeles, $100.
• Port Angeles, $200.
• Port Angeles, $100.
• Port Angeles, $50.
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Editor Brian McLean can be reached by email at brian.mclean@peninsuladailynews.com.
