Cancer - How Social Workers Help

Excerpt from the book "What Social Workers Do," by the late Margaret Gibelman, DSW

It used to be that a cancer diagnosis meant a death sentence. With sophisticated medical advances, a cancer diagnosis may involve far more than grieving and funeral planning. It may mean choosing whether to pursue or dismiss life-prolonging treatments and other heart-rending decisions.  It may also mean coping with anger, grief, depression and a range of other bewildering feelings.

A social worker can help to assess your situation, whether you are the patient, the caregiver, or even a long-distance relative of the patient. Linking you with a support group where you can vent your feelings and learn from the experiences of others, coordinating with your insurance company to help you to sort out the treatments for which you are qualified, and possibly even arranging for hospice care, are among the services a social worker can provide.  He or she can also offer counseling or psychotherapy based upon your individual needs.

The late Margaret Gibelman, DSW, was professor and director of the PhD Program in Social Welfare at the Wurzweiler School of Social Work, Yeshiva University, New York. She wrote the book "What Social Workers Do."