Who Cares About Follow-up Care?

Long-term Follow-up Care for Hereditary Cancers

by Sue Friedman

Time and again we hear from FORCE members on our message boards, at meetings, in chats, and in emails who say, "What follow-up care should I be having?" and "What type of doctors should I see?"

As more people test positive for a mutation, and as many mutation carriers are surviving or preventing cancer, there is a growing awareness of the need to focus on long-term health and wellness issues for our community. In addition to the health challenges from having a mutation, we must also deal with the health consequences of treatment and prevention of cancer. Our collaborative survey with Florida Hospital Celebration Health is designed to provide information about these issues. Our goal for this survey is to use the results to:

• assess our community's attitudes about long-term health issues and follow-up care;
• determine what type of practitioners people are consulting;
• identify the screening tests and preventive services members are accessing.

Results of the survey will be shared with our members and used to help design programs that better address the long-term health needs of the hereditary cancer community.

Visit our Research Surveys page for a complete list of surveys and updates.

Feedback

We welcome your feedback. Please send your comments to Sue Friedman or fill out our Newsletter Feedback Form.