Ongoing Care
You’ll be referred after your recovery from head and neck cancer to WellStar’s medical oncology team for treatment, surveillance and survivorship programs. These comprehensive programs focus on diet, exercise and nutrition to help you reduce the risk of recurrence. In addition, because of the location of head and neck cancers and potential damage to the neck, mouth, nose and other areas of the face, rehabilitation specialists at WellStar will help maximize your chances of returning to as normal a life as possible.
Oncology Nurse Navigator Program
WellStar’s Oncology Nurse Navigator Program is designed to team a “nurse navigator” with each patient and his/her family. Nurse navigators not only anticipate what patients and their families need, but help them work through the treatment system.
Supportive Care
Cancer care at WellStar is more than advanced technology, clinical research, and highly specialized physicians and nurses. It includes an array of supportive care services to improve the patient experience before, during and after treatment. All of these services are available within the WellStar system, including:
- Counseling services for individuals, couples and families.
- Nutrition services, which allow cancer patients to stay strong through treatment and eat healthier foods that lower cancer risk.
- Physical therapy centers, which allow many rehab options.
- Smoking cessation programs, which offer support to patients who need to come off cigarettes and nicotine. Special services are offered to those who have made prior attempts.
- Retail stores that offer wigs, mastectomy bras and other cancer support products.
- Genetic counseling services, which offer patients and family members who are at high risk to be tested for genetic abnormalities after meeting with a certified genetic counselor.
- Healthplace, which offers programs for cancer patients to regain strength and fight fatigue after chemotherapy or radiation therapy.
Palliative Care and Hospice
WellStar’s certified palliative care physicians and certified registered nurses are dedicated to providing compassionate, quality care in various settings, including home hospice, inpatient hospice nursing homes, assisted living facilities and nursing homes. WellStar offers caring and compassionate hospice care for patients and their families in one of Georgia’s oldest hospice programs serving Bartow, Cherokee, Cobb, Douglas and Paulding counties.