Patient Emergency Fund Program Impact

Patient Emergency Fund Program Impact

Over the span of three years, 226 lung cancer patients in 52 counties across North Carolina have received financial assistance through Lung Cancer Initiative’s Patient Emergency Fund.  Originally launched in response to the COVID-19 pandemic in 2020, the program provides financial assistance to patients to support access to healthy foods and transportation or to cover other non-medical expenses.

We are so proud of how this program embraces our core values of community-building, compassion and empathy, and allows lung cancer patients to feel like they are part of a community understanding and supporting them.

“This fund will help me pay for my utilities and heat/air. I have not been able to pay for these things and now will be able to take charge of my living expenses that I have not been able to pay due to my cancer treatments,” states a lung cancer patient.

Many patients face financial hardship with a cancer diagnosis, and this program is designed to provide continued support to lung cancer patients in accessing their basic needs. Thus far in 2023, LCI has distributed $3,700 to 37 lung cancer patients ranging in age from 24 to 83 years of age across North Carolina, reaching 6 new counties for the program.

“The Patient Emergency Fund began during the pandemic as a way to support patients in accessing their basic needs,” said Jenni Danai, Chief Mission Delivery Officer for Lung Cancer Initiative.  However, we know that there is always a financial burden with any cancer diagnosis, so we have continued the program as a way to provide continued support.  There are still so many other challenges that lung cancer patients have to constantly learn to navigate through in their daily lives, and that is why we have such a strong mission to help navigate the ups and downs of living life with lung cancer.