Thriving Together: Pushing Past Pediatric Cancer
About Keaton’s Child Cancer Alliance
Keaton’s Child Cancer Alliance provides family-centered support services to address the emotional, financial, and educational impacts of a pediatric cancer diagnosis.
We offer HOPE and STRENGTH through a child’s treatment along with paths towards wellness and HEALING beyond cancer.
Keaton’s Family Navigator Program (FNP) is designed to equip pediatric cancer families with the mental, physical, and emotional strength to cope and navigate their journey—from diagnosis, to treatment, and beyond. The goal is to relieve the stressors that impact patient care and increase patient survival. The FNP is a 3-part care process:
1. Hope: Referred families are linked to a KCCA’s FN (i.e. bachelors or masters-level social workers) for intake, assessment and linkage to resources to resolve immediate needs.
2. Strength: Services provided such as bilingual case management, ongoing needs assessments, community resource linkages; fun, interactive events; nutritional aid; education system navigation; & travel solutions to assist with treatment commutes.
3. Healing: Thriving Together, now the largest component of the FNP, offers evidence-based psychosocial interventions effective at reducing symptoms of anxiety, depression & trauma.
Thriving Together: Pushing Past Pediatric Cancer
Learning that your child has cancer is an unimaginable experience. From that moment, a family is forever changed. In Northern California, over 900 children per year are diagnosed with cancer yet few receive specialized family support services. It remains the leading cause of death by disease among children; 1 in 285 children will be diagnosed before the age 20. Alarming data from kidsdata.org show the rate of pediatric cancer diagnosis in Placer County ranks #2 among California counties at 23/100,000 compared to Sacramento County (18), El Dorado (15) and statewide (18). The impact of the disease and the exhaustive treatment regimen is extensive—draining a family’s physical, emotional, mental and financial health. While survival rates are improving, incidence rates continue to increase. Compounding the problem, Placer County–Roseville & Lincoln specifically–rate as Mental Health Professional Shortage Areas with a 20-30% vacancy rate among licensed behavioral health professionals.
