Fighting hunger and cancer
Nurses at the North Idaho Cancer Center called in Cindy Shannon when a female patient on chemotherapy kept losing weight. Cindy is a social worker at the center.
She chatted with the patient, trying to detect depression or emotional problems that would prompt her to stop eating.
“She seemed pretty upbeat, talked about gardening,” Cindy says. “I finally just said, ‘You’re losing weight. You don’t seem to be eating.’ Then the lightbulb went on in my head.”
The woman said nothing, so Cindy asked her if she had food in her house. After paying for medications and treatment, the woman had no money for food.
“It’s so common,” Cindy says, tears filling her eyes. Twenty years of working with cancer patients hasn’t toughened her to life’s dirty tricks. “If a doctor says buy this prescription, they do and just don’t buy the food they need.”
Hunger seemed to Cindy too much to bear after a diagnosis of cancer and the wear and tear of treatment. She picked up the phone and called the Three Cs – Cancer and Community Charities. The club treasurer wrote her a check. Cindy bought cases of Ensure, a liquid nutritional supplement that people with digestive problems from chemotherapy can tolerate. She also bought nonperishable food for the families of people with cancer.
“We have so many young people with kids and they can’t get (Social Security) Disability because their health problems are temporary and they can’t work for a while,” she says. “They’re in terrible trouble, especially when the breadwinner is the one in treatment.”
The food program began in the 1980s when Cindy first started at the cancer center. She turned to the Three Cs because she’d met the group’s founder, Ellen Walden, at American Cancer Society meetings. Ellen was a cancer survivor and started the club in 1962 to ease the way for other cancer patients. She told Cindy in the early 1980s that a cancer center – the future North Idaho Cancer Center – was in the works for North Idaho and it was a priority for the Three Cs. When the center opened in 1987, Cindy was hired as a social worker.
She knew she could count on the Three Cs to help with money for better patient services when Kootenai Medical Center’s budget couldn’t. What surprised Cindy was how the club raised the tens of thousands of dollars it gave away to health causes every year.
The money all came from members and still does. This year, the Three Cs raised $45,750 and is distributing it to 19 health-related organizations in Kootenai County.
“We have no fund-raisers at all,” says LaRee Robinson, the club’s president. “It’s our members’ contribution to the community.”
From its start, the Three Cs raised money from its get-togethers. The club has 13 interest groups, covering such hobbies as bridge, gardening and gourmet cooking. The groups meet once a month and each member contributes $10. The money is saved, then community organizations apply for it.
“Every year we receive more requests,” LaRee says. “Our priority is to uphold Ellen’s vision.”
Cindy’s appreciation of the Three Cs grew so much that she joined the club in 1996. The Three Cs women, she found, were more than compassionate; they were fun. They helped her learn to golf and subtly taught her golf etiquette.
“I miss them if I have to miss a meeting,” Cindy says. “They’re so incredibly fun.”
The women also considered any news she shared about the cancer center. The hunger problem among patients Cindy described this year was news to many newer members. After the Three Cs helped launch the emergency food program at the center back in the 1980s, the KMC Foundation took over support. It gives $100 every month, which was sufficient until lately.
Hunger among patients has pushed past other problems as skyrocketing medical costs demand more money than patients have. Cancer center staff started a food bank and keep it stocked with donations. But Ensure for chemo patients is costly and the center needed help. The Three Cs offered $2,500.
It also gave the center money for new radiation gowns for patients with breast or lung cancer. Gowns used now are bleak from washing and open in front, which is embarrassing to patients waiting their turn with others. The new gowns ordered are colorful and snap in front.
“We just want to preserve a person’s modesty,” Cindy says. “I didn’t expect them to fund it because it’s not a dire need like nutritional supplements. This is a wonderful thing they’re doing to benefit patients.”
Just as they’ve always done.