American Cancer Society information center

The National Cancer Information Center (NCIC) is the ‘front door’ to the American Cancer Society for over one million constituents each year, and serves the public by providing up-to-date cancer information and local cancer resources 24 hours a day, seven days a week. “This is a valuable resource for our families, friends, co-workers or anyone touched by cancer,” stated long time volunteer Allyson McGraw of Blairsville.

The center is actually located in Austin, Texas and has more than 250 trained staff members who focus on information services for patients and families. Through this center information about local resources is also available. The center is also a source for education on prevention and early detection.

Cancer Information Specialists receive four weeks of intensive training before

taking their first call. Bilingual resources are available and enable the Center to provide information in many languages. In addition, special teams are set up to meet specific needs such as oncology nursing, Quitlines for smoking cessation, clinical trials matching services, and health insurance team.

The NCIC partners with the South Atlanta Division of the American Cancer Society to meet the needs of all the callers. The Center has a team of 27 specialists assigned to the South Atlantic Division. In order to provide callers with the necessary information, the NCIC gathers information from a variety of resources including the Cancer Information Database, the Community Resource Database, a national Calendar of Events, and the Web site...www.cancer.org. The information is distrubuted in a

variety of ways. Some information is presented verbally to callers, as well as via e-mail of FAX. Some receive documents, brochures, and other publications. The NCIC can also provide nurse referrals and utilize other organizations to distribute information as well. If an American Cancer Society program does not meet the caller’s needs, the caller can also be referred to other community programs that may be available.

The National Cancer Information Center (NCIC) is just anoter example of how the American Cancer Society is involved in every community... just a phone call away. “Ask your loved ones to spread the word about this valuable resource for cancer patients, survivors, and caregivers,” added Mrs. McGraw. The toll free number is 1-800-ACS- 2345 and the web site is www.cancer.org.