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Patient Support Services

At the Emory Proton Therapy Center, we are here to support you every step of the way. During your treatment, the Patient Experience team is available to assist you with many of your personal and logistical needs. Whether it’s helping you feel at home in the Atlanta area, making a restaurant reservation to celebrate your graduation, or connecting you with a previous patient through our Peer Partner program, we are here to ensure that your experience is as positive as possible.

Patient Programs

As part of the Winship Cancer Institute, Emory Proton Therapy Center takes care of the whole patient, with access to a vast network of support groups, wellness programs, educational opportunities, seminars, and services. Below are just some of the offerings provided to patients. For more information on each, and to see a complete list, click here.

Wellness Services

Even a small amount of exercise daily will help with fatigue, improve cardiovascular fitness and help maintain a healthy weight. In addition to the physical benefits, exercise may provide many psychological and emotional benefits, such as giving you more confidence, increasing your contact with people, and boosting your ability to cope with anxiety during and after treatment. To get you started, Winship offers the Winship at the Y program in conjunction with 18 Atlanta area YMCAs. To enroll and receive a referral to a wellness coach or to learn more about this program, please send an email to survivorship@emoryhealthcare.org.

Nutrition Services

Registered dietitians are available to answer questions and address concerns about managing your diet, weight, treatment side effects, and use of nutritional supplements during and after your treatment. To schedule an appointment with a dietitian, call 404-251-0742.

Spiritual Health

A cancer diagnosis may make you feel overwhelmed, frightened, or alone. You may experience difficulty with your faith or deepest values. Spiritual Health is available to support you. If you want to talk about the impact of this illness, we are here to journey with you. A spiritual health educator offers spiritual care, support and presence to you as a patient or survivor, your family and caregivers. To contact the Manager of Spiritual Health and Community Care, contact Caroline Peacock at 470-446-7844.

Social Services

Coping with cancer can be a daunting experience. Illness and treatment may affect family life, functioning at work or school, financial stability or ability to plan for the future. Our oncology social workers can assist you by providing practical assistance, support, and individual, family and group counseling. To reach an Emory Proton Therapy Center social worker, please call 404-251-2690.

Support Groups

Winship Cancer Institute hosts cancer-specific and topical support groups on a monthly basis facilitated by licensed social workers, registered nurses, and other professionals. Support groups provide a unique opportunity for you to connect with others and learn more about treatment options for your specific cancer type, find ways to improve your quality of life, and make friends. Please speak with your social worker for support group recommendations and information.

Nurse Navigators

Nurse navigators are clinically trained professionals responsible for the identification and removal of barriers to timely and appropriate cancer care and treatment. In addition, nurse navigators help ensure care is coordinated appropriately when a patient undergoes multiple treatment modalities simultaneously (for example, proton therapy patients who are concurrently undergoing chemotherapy). Our nurse navigators are located at multiple Winship locations and follow a disease-specific model of care, tailoring their approach to best meet the unique needs of their patient populations. Jessica Milbury, RN, BSN, is the Nurse Navigator for the proton center.

Psychiatric Services

The emotional impact of a cancer diagnosis is hard to measure. It is safe to say that for many people, it is a life-altering event. Winship has licensed social workers and medical experts in the field of psychiatry available to you at all stages of diagnosis, treatment and recovery who will help you with a broad range of emotional and psychological issues. New patients must meet with a social worker before accessing psychiatric services. To reach an Emory Proton Therapy Center social worker, please call 404-251-2690.

Support and Palliative Care

Winship has many specialists who can help you manage your symptoms and reduce the burden of side effects. These teams draw from wide-ranging resources in supportive oncology, integrative oncology and palliative care. Whatever stage you are at in treatment, recovery or survivorship, our support care teams will design an integrated program with the primary goal of improving your quality of life. Ask your oncologist for a referral or for more information on the program, please call 404-778-1900.

Pain Management Care

Research shows the more you know about pain and the more active and positive you are in treatment, the more effective the treatment will be. Cancer pain specialists from the Emory Pain Center provide interventional cancer pain management tailored to addressing your specific pain symptoms. To request an appointment or a consultation, please ask your nurse or doctor for a referral or contact the Emory Pain Center by calling 404-686-2410.

Rehabilitation Services

We recognize the value that specially tailored rehabilitation can offer you before, during and after cancer treatment to improve recovery and regain your independence in everyday activities. Our oncology rehab therapists are specially trained to provide therapy services to address a variety of cancer-related impairments to help you before, during and after undergoing treatment for cancer.

Pamela's Proton Presents

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Pamela Cummings Reid was diagnosed at seven with medulloablastoma. After successful surgery to remove the tumor, Pamela received proton radiation in Boston, Massachusetts and eleven months of chemotherapy at Children’s Healthcare of Atlanta. She is now healthy and happy and wants to encourage and support other children going through health challenges.

Pamela’s Proton Presents began out of Pamela’s heartfelt desire to return some of the kindness she received during her treatment. Gifts are provided to Emory Proton Therapy Center pediatric patients and their siblings at the end of each week.

To donate to Pamela’s Proton Presents, please visit pamelasprotonpresents.com and click the yellow “make a donation” button.