Thursday, May 2, 2024 | 2 a.m.
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Last week, I traveled to Washington, D.C., with the American Cancer Society Cancer Action Network to meet Sen. Catherine Cortez Masto, D-Nev. I urged her to support an important piece of legislation that would greatly improve quality of life for cancer patients.
The Palliative Care and Hospice Education and Training Act (PCHETA) is a bipartisan bill that aims to tackle some of the obstacles preventing patients from accessing palliative care, which aims to relieve suffering and improve quality of life for those facing long-term symptoms from serious illnesses like cancer.
As an oncology certified registered nurse, I know from personal experience the impact palliative care can have, regardless of age or stage of disease. Palliative care helps improve patient and family satisfaction at lower cost. It can be provided wherever a patient is seen and can be provided together with curative treatment.
If passed, PCHETA will establish education and certification programs to equip more medical professionals with the skills to incorporate palliative medicine into patient care, create awareness campaigns so more people are aware of the benefits, and fund vital federal research.
With this legislation, Congress has an opportunity to ensure people with cancer have access to the care they need. We thank Sen. Jacky Rosen, D-Nev., for supporting PCHETA, and hope we can count on Cortez Masto to do so as well.
The writer is a volunteer for the American Cancer Society Cancer Action Network.
