December 2020

Greetings,

On behalf of our team, we hope this finds you and yours safe.

Western States Cancer Research NCORP has been busy this year! The Board’s strategic planning process, supporting patients on clinical trials, adding new staff, and holding a successful charity golf tournament during COVID-19 has given us a lot to share with our friends.

We couldn’t do this important work without you – thank you very much!  With the holiday giving season upon us, we felt like this was a great time to re-launch our Focus on the Search newsletter.  There will be both print and electronic editions to make it accessible for all.  Stay on the lookout for it in either your email or post office box.

The COVID-19 pandemic has highlighted the importance of access to health care in general and the impact of historic inequities and racism on communities of color, which have been hardest hit by the virus. During the pandemic, services have continued for patients who were already participating in a current cancer treatment trial, as well as for those patients who became seriously ill.  Yet, new trials that had not yet opened or had not enrolled patients were temporarily postponed until after the CDC and NCI deemed it safe to resume research.  

We have maintained a full roster of staff throughout this public health crisis, most of whom have been working remotely; continuing our work and supporting our patients who are participating in clinical trials is paramount. We are working on a new Strategic Plan to help us expand our focus on under-resourced cancer patient populations and on the rural parts of the states we serve.  Leveraging a recent opportunity when several NCORPs across the country reorganized, we acquired new sites in the West over the past two years. Currently we partner with hospitals, community clinics, and physicians/oncologists throughout Colorado, Montana, Utah, Washington state and Alaska. 

We meet as a full team twice a month via Zoom so we can see each other and check in. Although much of our meeting time has to do with the work we do, some of it is playful, and some of it is motivational. Self-care makes care for others easier. As I said to the team this summer, we must be kind to each other during the upcoming conversations and in the coming days. Courage and compassion remain the watchwords for us as we move into 2021.

With the end of this year almost upon us, we hope you will include WSCR-NCORP in the charitable donations you plan to make on Colorado Gives Day 2020 on December 8^th.  There is so much work to do. Your support now helps us make clinical trials available to patients living in their own communities throughout western regions of the United States.  Much like sending in your mail-in ballot, you can pre-schedule your gift right now to process on Colorado Gives Day at https://www.coloradogives.org/westernstatesncorp/overview

Every dollar you donate goes a long way to support our cancer clinical trials. New this year, the minimum donation you can make on Colorado Gives Day is as low as $5. To help your donation go farther, organizations will get a boost from the $1 million Incentive Fund made possible by 1^st Bank and the Community First Foundation.

I always welcome hearing from our friends so don’t hesitate to reach out if you have any questions or thoughts about how you’d like to support the patients participating in our clinical trials this winter.

Wishing you and yours a happy (and safe) holiday season.

With gratitude,