I had the opportunity to attend a conference last year where we were connected with a group of very talented individuals who work for the Oregon Health Sciences University Foundation and who worked with donors during the Knight Cancer Challenge. This was an incredible partnership between Phil and Penny Knight and the OHSU Foundation. Phil, as many of you know, is the co-founder of Nike and his family named the Knight Cancer Institute at OHSU. The Knight Cancer Challenge raised over one billion dollars in two years.

During the announcement to kick off this campaign, Phil said something that highlights the importance of the work done by healthcare professionals and the support given by donors like you:

“Is there a higher calling than curing cancer?”

Your support of the Tri-Cities Cancer Center Foundation ensures that we can continue our work in the fight against cancer and that no one in our region will fight cancer alone.

Funding from the Foundation supported our Navigation Program, which combines nursing support with chaplain services to ease the burden of cancer. Through this program, we are able to reduce patient distress by up to 75% in areas such as treatment decisions, financial challenges and physical issues.

In the last year, we provided our community with over 1000 no-cost or greatly reduced cost cancer screenings which is improving the health of our community and reducing barriers to screenings.

Our Foundation supported the remodel of our High Dose Radiation Vault, which provides patients with world-class treatment options. This remodel allowed staff to utilize the existing treatment room without interrupting other services, giving patients flexibility and access without incurring long wait times to treatment. This remodel also added an additional exam room which will support our Survivorship program as well as our Naturopathic physician program.

The Foundation also funded our annual Survivor BBQ in June, where we hosted over 200 cancer patients and their families for a free BBQ to celebrate their survivorship.

We funded and planned the annual “Teal the Bridge” celebration in September, which recognized ovarian cancer and created greater awareness for the disease. The Cable Bridge was lit in teal for the month of September and guests enjoyed a wonderful presentation by survivors and staff, as well as a remembrance of those lost to this disease.

We were the charity partner for Live@5, where many of our groups, like our Men’s Club and Guild hosted a booth every Thursday during the season, educating our community on important topics like early detection and prevention of cancer, as well as volunteering and survivorship.

And throughout the year, our Foundation supported many community awareness events, including “Handsomely Hairy For Health” with the Mid-Columbia Libraries, TCCC’s Annual Media Appreciation Day, Run For Ribbon’s Ribbon Fest and many more.

We also have the honor of working with a dedicated group of cancer crushers, the Warrior Sisterhood, whose tireless dedication to supporting women who have been diagnosed with cancer has raised over $55,000 since its inception.

Beyond the funds raised and the events held, the Tri-Cities Cancer Center Foundation has been blessed with the incredible gift of time through our dedicated crew of volunteers, including our wonderful Guild and Men’s Club. We were the recipient of 12,252 volunteer hours in 2017, which has allowed us to serve more people than ever before.

The great privilege of serving our community is something I know we, as your Tri-Cities Cancer Center staff and volunteers, are all very proud of. Our staff is very proud that we get to work alongside each of you to create world-class healthcare for our families, friends, and neighbors.

Thank you so much for your support of world-class cancer care in our region.