TEAMS | #AYAWeek 2016

Teens & young adults deserve specialized healthcare professionals experienced in working with their age group.

The team of professionals surrounding young people are often not trained to work specifically with this age group; finding resources to help the young person or appropriate activities for them to engage in can be demanding and challenging.

An Interdisciplinary Team for teens and young adults with cancer should include specialist health professionals from pediatric and adult medical oncology. Their communication and collaboration with a specific focus on this age group is essential to delivering successful programs. In time, Teen Cancer America’s goal is to develop specialist training for teen and young adult cancer professionals, but until then it is essential to merge the skills and experience of professional staff from both pediatric and adult medical oncology. Luckily, there are wonderful healthcare professionals leading the way today! Take a look…

Advanced Clinical Nurse Amelia Baffa is a Patient Navigator for adolescents and young adults at UH Rainbow Babies and Children’s Hospital, and helps patients caught between pediatric and adult oncology in the aftermath of being hit by “the cancer bus.” – American Red Cross of Northeast Ohio

Interdisciplinary teams take research and protocols into consideration specifically for teens and young adults. This is especially important when having discussions about important topics like fertility, sexuality and family planning. Take a look at this article for an example of teams doing just that (including TCA Ambassador and medical student, Daniel Bral!)

Read Article > HOW MUCH DOES CHEMO IMPACT FERTILITY?

This week we are raising awareness for #AYAWeek at Teen Cancer America. Adolescent and Young Adult (AYA) Cancer encompasses about 70,000 young people (ages 15-39) diagnosed each year in the United States. According to The NIH’s National Cancer Institute, this is about six times the number of cancers diagnosed in children ages 0-14. You’ve heard us talk a lot about teens (we are Teen Cancer America after all!) and our focus on 13-25 year olds, but the AYA group deals with many of the same roadblocks that our TYA group encounters.

Join us on Facebook • Twitter • Instagram for more #AYAWeek at Teen Cancer America