Patient and Family Assistance Crisis Fund

Cancer impacts every aspect of a patient’s life—and the stress can be overwhelming. Dana-Farber Cancer Institute’s Division of Patient and Family Programs and Services, led by Senior Director Deborah Toffler, MSW, LCSW, offers a number of supportive, educational, and financial resources that help reduce the burden of these stresses and allow patients to focus on what is most important: their well-being.

Dana-Farber has long been committed to easing the financial stress of cancer for patients and their families. Underscoring this commitment, the Division of Patient and Family Programs and Services provides needs-based assistance—including gas and grocery store gift cards and discounted short-term lodging—to more than 1,400 eligible families throughout the year. This assistance often acts as a bridge between immediate need and longer-term solutions.

The Patient Assistance Crisis Fund assists patients facing dire circumstances that threaten their treatment or recovery. Past fund recipients include patients who faced eviction from their homes or urgently needed home repairs, like a broken window during cold winter months. Additionally, during the holiday season, the Seasonal Giving Fund helps families—some of whom may be spending their last holiday together—buy gifts for loved ones. The immediacy of this kind of support helps to relieve patients’ financial anxieties and enables them to concentrate on their treatment.

Vanessa
Vanessa, a young woman with breast cancer, underwent surgery as part of her treatment. Discussions with a Resource Specialist revealed that she was unable to return to her job at a local restaurant during her two-month recovery period, and she and her husband had difficulty making ends meet on his paycheck alone. Gift cards helped the couple purchase groceries and gas, easing the strain on their finances so that Vanessa could focus on healing.
 

Pete
Ten years after his first treatment, Pete, now in his 30s, was diagnosed with a new form of cancer. Pete and his wife, a stay-at-home mom, have a baby and kindergartener. To keep his short-term disability benefit with his employer, Pete continues to work as often as he can. When the young couple’s furnace broke in the middle of the winter, they did not know where to turn. The Patient Assistance Crisis Fund helped the couple purchase a new furnace, ensuring that they had heat during the coldest months of the year.