An Advocate's Perspective on Patient-Centered Care

Meg Gaines; Voices on Cancer
July 19, 2018
Monika Sharda, ASCO staff

Voices on Cancer is an award-winning Cancer.Net Blog series where advocates share their stories and the lessons they have learned about being a cancer advocate.

Attorney Meg Gaines found a calling to be a patient advocate after her own cancer experience. Gaines’ self-advocacy helped her through her extended and difficult diagnosis and treatment process in the 1990s. After her successful treatment, she wanted to empower other people with cancer to advocate for their care.share on twitter

Her first opportunity came unexpectedly, when her oncologist asked her to help cheer up a patient who was feeling down. “I jumped on the bus and really was there in about 25 minutes,” Gaines told me in a recent interview. “[I] sat for most of the afternoon with her—talking about life, and death, and mortality and what it's like, and family, and fear, and cancer.”

Gaines also helped the patient sort out a billing issue with her insurance company, and this first taste of advocacy left Gaines hooked. She realized that a team-based approach would be able to help more people than anyone could alone. She is now the founder and director of the Center for Patient Partnerships.

I had the opportunity to interview Gaines about her cancer experience and the lessons she learned from it. In this podcast, she shares her story and talks about the importance of patient-centered care. Highlights from our conversation include:

  • How Gaines’ cancer journey began and how it led to her becoming a patient advocate [1:24].

  • The meaning of “patient-centered care” and its importance in the healthcare system [9:21].

  • How she mentors future professionals and advocates [10:45].

  • Advice for future patient advocates [12:12].

Was this podcast useful? Please subscribe, rate, and review Cancer.Net Podcasts on Apple Podcasts or Google Play. This prerecorded podcast can be listened to online or downloaded to your computer. A transcript is also available. For more information, visit the Cancer.Net podcast page.

Category: 

Share your thoughts on this blog post on Cancer.Net's Facebook and Twitter.