The Journal of the American Medical Association recently featured a report that says cancer survivors in the U.S. and Europe are 37% more likely to be unemployed than their healthy colleagues. While the report did not speculate about the reasons for high unemployment, Angela G.E.M. de Boer of the Coronel Institute of Occupational Health, the chief author of the report, told The New York Times that many survivors simply may not be physically capable of returning to work. Still, “employment is associated with a higher quality of life, and encouraging survivors to return to work also benefits aging societies economically,” Dr. de Boer added.
During and after treatment, support services for cancer patients and their families are crucial to recovery. In addition to technologically advanced treatments such as prostate cancer brachytherapy, Intensity Modulated Radiation Therapy (IMRT), chemotherapy, and radiation, the Dale & Frances Hughes Cancer Center in East Stroudsburg, PA offers pastoral care and counseling and information about support groups.