CDC Funding Will Focus on Unique Transplant-Related Concerns for Patients Age 50 and Over

NMDP Awarded Federal Cooperative Agreement Award To Address Needs of Cancer Patients

The National Marrow Donor Program's Office of Patient Advocacy has been awarded a three-year cooperative agreement award to address some of the specific issues and concerns facing potential marrow and blood cell transplant patients ages 50 and older. The award includes more than $330,000 for the first year.

The Department of Health & Human Services cooperative agreement was awarded through the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) in Atlanta, Ga., as part of the National Health Organization Strategies to provide information and education for patients, their family members, friends and caregivers with respect to hematologic cancers.

"Patients 50 and older face unique transplant-related concerns," said Elizabeth Murphy, director, NMDP Office of Patient Advocacy and administrator of the award. "Their concerns may include declining health, inadequate Medicare or Medicaid coverage or no insurance coverage, quality of life post-transplant and lack of an actual caregiver. With this grant, we hope to address some of these issues, and better serve this unique patient population."

The number of older patients receiving marrow and blood transplants has increased significantly in recent years. Today, 29 percent of all transplants facilitated by the NMDP annually are for patients older than 50 compared with 6 percent in the mid-1990s.

NMDP's Office of Patient Advocacy, in earning the award, identified several emerging, unmet needs of patients in the 50-plus age group, including age-specific communications, post-transplant information for patients, information for caregivers and family members, and alternatives to print materials (i.e., teleconferences, videos/DVDs).

Recognizing these opportunities, the NMDP has focused recent efforts on developing age-targeted communication materials on marrow and blood cell transplants for ethnically-diverse patient populations. The NMDP's strategies for addressing issues for this 50 and older age group include:

• Further identification of some of the barriers and communication needs specific to this population, including barriers for the older patients living in rural areas
  
• Creating age-specific communication materials on marrow and blood cell transplants which address the needs and barriers identified through analysis
  
• Increasing patient access to information on the marrow and blood cell transplant process through alternative methods such as teleconferences, videos and DVDs
  
• Working within the NMDP Network and partnering with other organizations such as nbmtLINK and BMTInfoNet to increase the capacity to disseminate information and increase awareness of these age-specific materials
  
• Increasing recruitment of volunteer caregivers through expansion of an existing program through nbmtLINK