Hospital receives grants, doctor joins committee

Cancer center receives WBCI grant

A grant for $7,350 recently was awarded to Memorial Hospital of Sweetwater County's Sweetwater Regional Cancer Center by the Wyoming Breast Cancer Initiative.

The grant provides money for a Navigation and Wellness Program. The program includes helping breast cancer patients with gas cards, hotel vouchers, and offering classes to patients and survivors to help with physical, mental, emotional and social well-being. Those classes will include a six-week yoga series, a painting class, and a charcuterie class, according to Tasha Harris, the director of the cancer center's radiation oncology unit. 

"We are very grateful to WBCI for their generous grant and the opportunity to help relieve some financial burdens for our patients with the gas cards and hotel vouchers," Harris said. "We also are very excited to offer various classes to our patients and survivors. Studies have shown that yoga and movement, and creating art in various forms may help reduce anxiety, depression, and fatigue in women with breast cancer."

$14,000 in grants helps cancer patients

Two grants were recently awarded to Memorial Hospital of Sweetwater County's Sweetwater Regional Cancer Center by the American Cancer Society.

A $10,000 ACS grant will be used for patient lodging. A second, $4,000 ACS grant will be used for gas cards, according to Dawn Piaia, the director of the cancer center's medical oncology/hematology unit. 

"Sweetwater Regional Cancer Center staff are super excited and appreciative to have been granted $14,000 to help our patients with gas cards and lodging," Piaia said. "This grant money can be used for all cancer types. Many of our patients who receive their cancer treatment here locally still must drive to Salt Lake City for appointments at Huntsman. With this money, SRCC can help with some of their gas costs.

"SRCC can also help with lodging for patients who are having surgery and need to spend the night in Salt Lake City," Piaia said. "Our patients really appreciate the monetary gifts that we can give them because of the American Cancer Society grant money."

Dr. Symington to advocate for rural patients through ASCO work

Dr. Banu Symington, a hematologist/oncologist at Memorial Hospital of Sweetwater County's Sweetwater Regional Cancer Center, has been invited to serve as a member of the Government Relations Committee for the American Society of Clinical Oncology and the Association for Clinical Oncology.

"I am excited about this appointment," Symington said. "It is a step I have envisioned that will give me a broader and potentially more actionable platform for my advocacy for rural and uninsured patients."

Symington's prestigious three-year appointment begins June 5.