Breast Aid is a national program that provides information, resources and referral sources, free of charge, for breast cancer patients and their families through telephone counseling, mail support and community outreach at health fairs and special events. The Breast Aid Program also disseminates timely information and referral sources for mammography screening and breast self/clinical examination. In addition, Breast Aid reaches out to underserved and indigent patients statewide in California through a partnership with the Department of Health Services Breast Cancer Early Detection Program and the California Health Collaborative/Breast Cancer Treatment Fund, linking them to low and no-cost screening and treatment services.

Trained information specialists are on-hand to provide callers and special event participants with one-on-one support and educational services. Breast cancer patients receive on-going follow-up from WIN ABC staff via telephone consultations and mailed information and resources. Each patient is tracked with in depth progress reports maintained by WIN ABC and is sent an individualized educational kit of peer/medical expert reviewed material that includes:

• A comprehensive WIN Against Breast Cancer Breast Health and Breast Cancer Resource Guide with an annotated bibliography of relevant books.
• A detailed booklet on breast anatomy and breast self-examination.
• A List of Questions to Ask Your Doctor About Breast Cancer (available in English and Spanish).

• Video tapes about dealing with the side effects of chemotherapy and radiation therapy.
• Video tapes on post-mastectomy and post-lumpectomy exercises (available in English and Spanish).
• Video tapes about Tamoxifen (available in English and Spanish).
• Video tapes about breast reconstruction.
• Booklets about nutrition and eating hints for cancer patients.

Breast Cancer Issues Workshops are professional in-service training programs conducted by WIN Against Breast Cancer designed to enhance health care providers' understanding of the issues and needs of breast cancer patients and their families. Qualified medical staff can receive Continuing Medical Educational Units for attending each session.

The sessions include practical information and discussion about how best to help patients and their families deal with breast cancer in a sensitive, supportive and positive manner. Participants include surgeons, oncologists, nurses, primary care physicians, mental health and social service providers and breast cancer survivors. top

    The Women's Information Network Against Breast Cancer (WIN ABC) is a 501(c)(3) non-profit organization based in Southern California. After years of development, WIN ABC has created the Breast Buddy Breast Care Program, a unique and proven program that will enhance the level of care for breast cancer patients, improve providersí quality of work life and help build a center of excellence for medical facilities.

The Breast Buddy Program has been designed to meet several strategic clinical goals. Three (3) major goals are to facilitate:

* Informed treatment decisions by patients,
* Continuity of care in a patient-friendly environment and
* Efficient use of medical staff time.

    In simple terms, the Breast Buddy Breast Care Program pairs up newly diagnosed patients with specially trained and carefully selected breast cancer survivor volunteer-mentors. These carefully matched peer support volunteers provide key information to facilitate patients' informed treatment decisions. Each "Breast Buddy" makes a commitment to mentor each newly diagnosed patient throughout the continuum of care -- for the period of up to one year.

1. Provision of peer support and detailed information about treatment options by trained survivor-mentors to patients with newly diagnosed and recurrent breast cancer will improve their satisfaction with medical care and thus

2. Favorably affect the efficiency and quality of physician-patient interactions.
 

    It has been proven that timely and accurate information about treatment options coupled with empathy and support provided by trained survivor-mentors leads to increased patient satisfaction and perceived enhancement of quality of care. The Breast Buddy Breast Care Program incorporates these key factors resulting in more streamlined, fruitful and satisfying patient-provider interactions and relationships.

    When patients are equipped with ready access to the proper health care information and support, they are more likely to make better informed, more prudent utilization and access decisions.

    The Breast Buddy Breast Care Program provides immediate and sustained state-of-the-art information and peer support for newly diagnosed breast cancer patients. The Program is medical center based, ensuring that patients receive the services and remain connected to the Program.

    The Breast Buddy Program has served as a catalyst in the development of a new, fluid pathway and improved standard of care for breast cancer patients. In such settings of integrated breast cancer care, a great deal of attention can be paid to the spiritual, emotional, educational and of course, the physical aspects of dealing with this life-threatening, life-altering disease. The result: a more compassionate, synergistic approach to breast cancer care for patients.

• The goal is to create an integrated and seamless system of services that can be sustained.
• Breast Buddies continues to be successful because it is, in large part, a consumer-driven and provider-driven program. Breast Buddies is a very dynamic program. Input from physicians, nurses, patients, volunteers and administrators is ongoing to ensure that the Program remains current, relevant and effective.
• The Breast Buddy Program works to strengthen hospital leadership to improve the capacity and functioning of systems that impact breast cancer care.
• As a nationally recognized non-profit organization, WIN Against Breast Cancer brings many resources to the table including years of expertise in the field of breast cancer, access to extensive support and educational materials (bilingual), other relevant community based organizations, numerous in-kind donations and positive, proactive media attention.

• Breast Buddy volunteers are comprehensively trained to provide emotional and informational support to newly diagnosed breast cancer patients throughout the diagnosis, decision-making, treatment and recovery continuum.
• These specially trained volunteers have a primary goal to teach new patients how to navigate medical centers and their health plans with ease. Because our volunteers are recruited from the same medical center as the patients with whom they will be paired to mentor, each "Breast Buddy" knows the health care system well.
• Breast Buddy volunteers also regularly provide breast cancer awareness outreach activities and on-going Program evaluation and feedback.

    The Breast Buddy Breast Care Program has received wide acceptance and approval from providers and patients alike. A professional evaluation of the Program was conducted in 1996. To ensure the integrity of the evaluation results, an independent evaluation was carried out by the Kaiser Permanente Southern California Regionís Research and Evaluation Department of Clinical Services. top

    Breast Buddy Program respondents were virtually identical to other respondents with breast cancer with respect to personal characteristics (e.g., education, race/ethnicity, how their cancer was detected and treatments received) and satisfaction with non-breast cancer care. Breast Buddy Program respondents reported higher levels of satisfaction with breast cancer care and services.

* Source and Reference:
Evaluation of the Breast Buddy Program, Ann Geiger, Ph.D., Diana Petitti, M.D., Kaiser Permanente Southern California Regional Department of Research and Evaluation.

The Breast Buddy Program has received a number of awards and recognitions. Among which are:

* The Breast Buddy Program has been identified as a "best practice model" (Kaiser Permanente, 1997) and is well positioned for implementation at multiple medical sites across the nation.
* The American Association of Health Plans (AAHP) has recently identified the Breast Buddy Program as a new "gold standard" of care. Representing over 1,000 health plans and 130 million health plan members, this recognition has established Breast Buddies as..."an exemplary practice...an outstanding women's health program that really is making a difference in improving women's health..."

Patient Satisfaction

1. Improved patient, family and provider satisfaction with all levels of care throughout the treatment continuum: breast cancer screening (mammography, CBE, BSE, etc.); diagnosis; treatment and follow-up care.

2. Increased patient and family member awareness of importance of screening and early detection, including Breast Self-examination (BSE) and mastectomy scar examination, with professional instruction on how to perform proper self-exams.

3. Improved access to breast cancer care and services in a user-friendly setting.

4. Breast Buddies affords each patient "one-stop shopping" in the integrated care, peer support and informational resources the Program offers.

Enhanced Provider Performance and Satisfaction

1. More efficient utilization of physician time while maximizing patient support. Using volunteer patient mentors will extend the productivity of paid staff and clinic time.

2. Improved integration with Primary Care Providers for breast cancer patient management.

3. Enhanced provider awareness of patients' support system at home and at work.

Improved Pathway of Care

1. Integration of the Breast Buddy Program into the cycle of service for breast cancer patients.

2. Facilitation of a multidisciplinary team approach to breast cancer treatment and care.

3. Integration of medical center and community based resources and services.

4. Consistency within departments, across departments and across medical centers regarding 1) the manner in which a breast cancer patient receives the diagnosis and 2) the information that is provided a breast cancer patient upon diagnosis and throughout the treatment continuum.

5. Enhanced awareness of the health care and informational needs of the community-at-large and how those needs are being met or need to be addressed.  top

"Breast Buddies is one-stop shopping for all your needs."

Gloria Lopez, Survivor-Mentor

"I have another purpose to live, the Breast Buddy Program is my purpose."

Joan Geist, Survivor-Mentor

"This is so healing for me, I get back ten times more than I give."

Joy Petit, Survivor-Mentor

"This group helped me more than anything else since I was first diagnosed."

Christine Sansone, Survivor-Mentor

"I don't know what we did before we had Breast Buddies."

Michael Shiffler, MD, Surgeon

"Anyone can do surgery, but only someone who has 'been there' can help a patient get through this."

Blaine Morton, MD. FACS, Surgical Oncologist

"My involvement in the Breast Buddy Program has been the most professionally rewarding experience that I have had in my twenty-three years of nursing."

Laura Ward, RN, CPSN, Breast Care Coordinator

"As a physician practicing over 20 years with Kaiser Permanente, I can tell you Breast Buddies was the right thing for us to do."

Phillip S. Carney Jr. MD, MPH, PIC

"The Breast Buddy Program has enhanced our patient care and given us an excellent reputation within the community."

Larry Oliver, Medical Group Administrator

"Breast Buddies has provided a seamless system of care for our patients."

Patricia Sloman, RN, MS, Department Administrator, General and Plastic Surgery

The Breast Buddy Program for Indigent and Underserved*
A Comprehensive Breast Care Program

Breast Buddies(TM) is a unique program that offers education and peer support to newly diagnosed breast cancer patients. This innovative program trains breast cancer survivors to guide and support patients throughout the decision-making, treatment and recovery process.

The Program addresses the complex psychosocial and informational needs of breast cancer patients and greatly assists each patient in learning her treatment options, connecting her to resources upon diagnosis. The Breast Buddy Program is medical center based, ensuring that patients receive the service and remain connected to the Program.

WIN Against Breast Cancer is now taking steps to bring the Breast Buddy Program into the lives of uninsured and medically underserved patients throughout the United States. This patient population typically has low access to the timely information and psychosocial support that are so critical to breast cancer survival and quality of life. top

WIN Against Breast Cancer is currently implementing a three-year Breast Buddy Program expansion. The effort has commenced in L.A. County, California as a two-year pilot project at two county-run medical centers. Year three will begin Program replication at two additional sites. A rigorous evaluation of the implementation process and of participant outcomes will allow the expansion of the Breast Buddy Indigent Program statewide and nationally.

The Breast Buddy Program for Indigent and Underserved will enable WIN Against Breast Cancer to:

1. Define a new standard of care, education and support for underserved breast cancer patients.

2. Build strategic community relationships.

3. Develop effective community outreach strategies.

4. Develop culturally sensitive, linguistically appropriate educational materials.

5. Strengthen hospital leadership to improve the capacity and functioning of systems that impact breast cancer care.

6. Change the culture in which breast cancer care is delivered to underserved patients by creating an integrated and seamless system of services.