Spotlight On: Triage Cancer

In 2012, cancer rights attorneys Joanna Doran and Monica Bryant observed an urgent need: People with cancer did not know how to manage the flood of legal and financial issues that came with their diagnosis. As sisters, Doran and Bryant had real insight into this world through their mother, a PhD-level oncology nurse, and their father, a researcher who studied psychosocial care for people with serious medical conditions.

In response to this need, the sisters founded Triage Cancer on March 22, 2012. Their first order of business: education.

"We started Triage Cancer with the hope that we could provide people with information and education on the legal and practical issues that arise after a cancer diagnosis, both for the individuals who are diagnosed and their caregivers," says Bryant.

Everyone should have access to the information they need to find their best path forward. - Monica Bryant

They wanted to focus on education about the legal options, the pros and cons of each, and how to make the best choices, says Bryant. "[We could teach them how] to figure out what needs to be dealt with right now and what can maybe be put off until later, which of course is the very definition of ‘triage' - and how we came to our name."

At first, Bryant and Doran hosted educational events in their community. Through word of mouth, people discovered Triage Cancer and started calling the office with legal questions. Since those early days, Bryant and Doran have expanded their educational offering to events like webinars and conferences, and by 2021, Triage Cancer had helped a million people learn vital legal information surrounding a cancer diagnosis.

Its Goal

"We often say our ultimate goal is to put ourselves out of business - [we] hope not [to] be needed one day," says Bryant. "Unfortunately, given the complexity of our [health] systems, that's not going to happen in the immediate future."

Most people don't see the connection between cancer and legal issues, says Bryant, but between medication costs, insurance coverage, disability benefits, and finances, quite a lot of the logistics around cancer are rooted in the law.

To battle confusion and feeling overwhelmed, Triage Cancer shines as a lighthouse of understanding, with the goal of helping everyone understand their legal options and rights surrounding cancer diagnosis, treatment, and recovery.

Services It Provides

To meet their goal, the Triage Cancer team expanded their community education sessions to larger-scale events, webinars, free instructional resources, and a blog .

No matter the format, Bryant says, follow-up is important to them. "We wanted to be able to give people more information that reinforced what we were sharing at the events. And that was the birth of our educational materials ."

From quick guides and checklists to estate planning toolkits, Triage Cancer provides a plethora of useful resources on its website. For example, it offers a health insurance comparison worksheet that helps you do the math step by step to compare two different options for health insurance.

"We also recognize that people learn in different ways," says Bryant. "And so we packaged the information in different ways." Not only can you read helpful information in English and Spanish on the website, you can watch short animated videos or listen to its podcast, called How to Triage Cancer .

As the COVID-19 pandemic ramped up, Bryant says, they began to get a lot more questions from people asking what to do about health insurance after a job loss or about their rights as an immunocompromised person being asked to come into work during a pandemic. In response to this new surge of need, Triage Cancer began its Legal & Financial Navigation Program in 2021.

"This program gives individuals the opportunity to complete a form on our website and tell us a little bit about their questions. Then they get a link in their email to schedule a call with us," says Bryant.

Long term, the Triage Cancer team wants to expand its scope to help people with not just cancer legalities but also legal issues surrounding any serious medical condition. In fact, it recently launched a sister website, Triage Health , for just this purpose.

Events

Triage Cancer still hosts dozens of educational events, including its virtual and in-person biannual conferences , which are open to people with cancer, their caregivers, and healthcare professionals. And free monthly webinars are available to anyone who wants to come and learn, says Bryant. From practical tips on getting organized in the midst of a cancer diagnosis to Medicare or veterans' benefits, Triage Cancer webinars offer education on a wide variety of topics.

For healthcare professionals, insurance and finance intensives help them better understand how to advocate for their patients. Interested health teams can request a training event . "If we can provide a ... nurse with some background information about these topics, they're more likely to spot that as a potential issue and, at the bare minimum, connect [a patient] to Triage Cancer to learn more."

Triage Cancer also boosts its reach by working with 160 national partners, such as CancerCare and CURE®. "We host about 30 events a year ourselves," says Bryant, but by joining forces with like-minded partners, they can reach even more people.

Core Belief

"Our core belief is that everyone should have access to the information they need to find their best path forward," says Bryant. "And that's what we're all about: making sure to the best of our ability that people have the information and the tools they need to find their best path."

Resources We Trust

• Mayo Clinic: Living Wills and Advance Directives for Medical Decisions
• MD Anderson Cancer Center: Legal & Financial Impacts of Cancer
• City of Hope: Managing Financial and Legal Issues
• American Cancer Society: Health Insurance Laws
• UNC Lineberger Comprehensive Cancer Center: Organizations That Can Help

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Abby McCoy, RN

Author

Abby McCoy is an experienced registered nurse who has worked with adults and pediatric patients encompassing trauma, orthopedics, home care, transplant, and case management. She is a married mother of four and loves the circus - that is her home! She has family all over the world, and loves to travel as much as possible.

McCoy has written for publications like Remedy Health Media, Sleepopolis, and Expectful. She is passionate about health education and loves using her experience and knowledge in her writing.

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