INDEX
- Associations for patients with lung cancer
- The task of associations
- FIGHT ONLUS
- IPOP ONLUS
Associations for patients with lung cancer
Association is synonymous with will and determination, not just volunteering: the result of people who pursue common goals, originating from needs that can find adequate answers only in mutual collaboration.
WALCE Onlus (Women Against Lung Cancer in Europe) and IPOP Onlus (Together for Pulmonary Oncology Patients) represent people with lung cancer and their families , different realities but with a common goal: to be there to help.
To know more:Lung cancer
The task of associations
When we are struck by an illness we sink into the unknown, into worries, into doubts. You feel lonely and lost, the reactions are different and fluctuating over time, so much loneliness … But when more people with the same condition join in the search for points of reference, loneliness takes over the sharing .
The task of the associations is to listen , to be visible and ready to face together the daily, present and future challenges.
The reasons why patients, family members and caregivers deal with WALCE and IPOP are many and require different forms of support : from the simplest to the most complex, from medical information to legal aspects, from issues related to nutrition to family dynamics.
In recent years, thanks to the pandemic , digital contact channels have increased and more and more are those who request information from associations through social networks and websites, highlighting new critical issues, directly and indirectly linked to the disease.
The disease is experienced at 360 degrees and associations are asked for information on therapies, on the management of side effects, on psychological and nutritional support and on the importance of physical exercise. There are also new concerns such as accessibility to tests, drugs and the difficulty of reaching treatment centers.
In recent years, thanks also to personalized medicine , the focus has shifted from the treatment of the disease to that of the person and from this, with a further improvement, to treatment with the person, favoring the multidisciplinary approach.
Often, however, due to insufficient economic resources, the professional figures (nutritionist, physiatrist , psycho- oncologist ) or the services and territorial networks that could contribute to the treatment are not available and the associations try, with their activities, to make up for the needs, fill gaps and favor or improve the process, also representing the needs of patients in institutional settings.
FIGHT ONLUS
WALCE Onlus was born in 2006 from the urgent need to create awareness and knowledge about lung cancer and the increase in its incidence also among women. The association has welcomed patients and family members, health specialists and the general population and their joint work has led to the creation of numerous support activities for patients and families, educational programs of information and updating on the disease and on what it concerns. is related and to Advocacy actions, aimed at recognizing the rights of people living with this pathology.
Certain that primary prevention is essential in this form of cancer , WALCE Onlus carries out awareness programs regarding the damage caused by cigarette smoking for school children and street activities for the general population, and is also involved in the dissemination of the prevention program. secondary, launched in November 2021 by the Ministry of Health, through the Italian Pulmonary Screening Network (RISP), which officially started in September this year.
IPOP ONLUS
IPOP Onlus , since its foundation in 2018, brings together patients and their families with the ultimate aim of fighting the disease and also the loneliness in the face of the disease. It wants to be a point of aggregation and reference for patients and their families, an attentive and sensitive community for the exchange of reliable and updated information on medical and daily life aspects. Sharing personal experiences and scientific information helps to raise everyone’s awareness of the disease. In lung cancer, early diagnosis is critical to the outcome of the disease and is why it is important to join the RISP program.