In April, Compass to Care launched the CARE & BACK™ program to address a critical need to access cancer treatment for Black and Latinx children. On Tuesday, CARE & BACK™ logged its 100th trip made by a family since the program launched in April!
One of our kids, Jaheem, travels from the Chicagoland area to UIC Medical Center for treatment. Every day, Martina uses CARE & BACK™ to order rides to the hospital for every chemotherapy and radiation appointment to fight Jaheem’s brain tumor. Martina says, “Thank you so much for your help. (With CARE & BACK™) we were able to get from home to the hospital on time to get Jaheem’s medication. Truly appreciated!”
The 100th CARE & BACK™ trip is a great milestone for a program that Compass to Care had been developing for over a year. In the pediatric oncology community, there is a fight to close long-standing disparities in outcomes for childhood cancer patients. Our founder, Michelle Ernsdorff-May, knew that Compass to Care needed to join this fight. This sparked the idea for CARE & BACK™, a resource for families who lived close to their treatment centers, but were still struggling with the immense costs of transportation. For months, Michelle worked with childhood cancer experts to find out how best to help these families. CARE & BACK™ is now in its third month as a Compass to Care program, with a bright future ahead.
Our families share our enthusiasm for the program. CARE & BACK™ allows moms and dads the dignity of control over their trips to treatment. During a time when everything feels out of their hands, with diagnoses, treatment, and plans for their child being made by others, CARE & BACK™ makes it possible for parents to secure rides to and from the hospital themselves. Similar to using any ride share app, families can request a ride from their phone when they are ready to go, with no out of pocket cost.
CARE & BACK™ creates the flexibility needed to respond to an ever changing treatment schedule. Even for a sudden fever in the middle of the night, CARE & BACK™ is there. With 100 trips already in the books, it is clear that families feel the empowerment of CARE & BACK™. It provides a path for the most powerful force in the world: the determination of a parent to do whatever it takes to help their child fight cancer.
CARE & BACK™ also creates a transportation option that may feel safer and cleaner to parents than public transportation. The reliability of the program also helps reduce any extra anxiety on treatment days. This is fortified by the knowledge that our team is just a call away for every trip. By taking away the burden of trip costs, Compass to Care’s CARE & BACK™ program has been able to help families dedicate more of their energy to the fight against their child’s cancer.
But this is only the beginning. In just a few short months, we have been able to expand the program from 5 Chicagoland treatment centers to 15 centers nationally, with many more on the way. We have introduced a Spanish version of our application to make it accessible to even more families. Celeste Hall, the Program Manager for Compass to Care, has been working closely with Social Work departments across the country to make CARE & BACK™ available wherever it is needed. With our team, and the support of Compass to Care donors, we are on the way to closing the gap in access to cancer treatment.
