The American Cancer Society has awarded the Essentia Health-Fargo Foundation with a $30,000 transportation grant to help cancer patients with the financial burden of traveling to and from their treatments.
Shane Reed is a social worker and oncology case manager at the Essentia Health Cancer Center. He says the Center serves the Fargo-Moorhead area, as well as several smaller surrounding communities in both North Dakota and Minnesota. He says for many patients, paying for gas to travel to their life saving treatments is a hefty burden.
"I mean, I even think of myself driving to pick my kids up from daycare, or other family members. The amount I spend on gas just driving around town - that takes a toll on a person, when we're asking them to come every day, or once every twelve weeks - and they're coming from 30 miles away or more; it becomes a huge barrier financially for these patients to get to and from treatment. Sometimes, with their food and other bills that we as normal individuals have - those gas funds might not be there in their accounts because they have to pay their daily living expenses."
Reed says it’s been rewarding to be able to gift patients with funds to pay for travel expenses. He says because the grant was awarded to the Foundation, the program will continue to be supported moving forward.