Cancer Rights Conference in Chicago Generates Buzz

Illinois resident and cancer survivor Wendy Schwartz attended last year's Cancer Rights Conference. (Chicago Tribune photo by William DeShazer)

Earlier this week the Chicago Tribune and Law Bulletin published articles about today's Cancer Rights Conference in Chicago hosted by the Cancer Legal Resource Center. More than 200 patients, survivors, caregivers and healthcare professionals from across the nation are expected to attend the free conference. A cancer diagnosis can drop individuals into a maze of legal issues, such as obtaining and keeping health, disability and life insurance; access to quality care; and government benefits. At the conference, CLRC staff attorneys will give presentations aimed to resolve cancer-related legal issues, as well as distributing resource materials, such as the CLRC's HCP Manual: A Legal Resource Guide for Oncology Health Care Professionals. The Chicago Tribune article, "Cancer patients get help through financial, health care mazes," brought attention to the event and highlighted CLRC services. The reporter interviewed Illinois resident Wendy Schwartz, a cancer survivor who attended last year's conference. "When you just get a cancer diagnosis, you're so overwhelmed by everything that you're not thinking about what government programs are there to help me," Schwartz told the Tribune. "You're just thinking, 'Am I going to live? Am I going to lose organs?' You have the cancer blinders on." Joanna Morales, CLRC Director, and Monica Fawzy Bryant, CLRC Midwest Regional Director, are prominently quoted in the Tribune article. The Law Bulletin story "Upcoming conference will address some cancer-related legal issues" appeared in the newspaper on June 17. After Chicago, the CLRC will host Cancer Rights Conferences on Friday, September 23, at Georgetown University Law Center, Washington, D.C.; and Friday, October 21, at the University of Michigan Comprehensive Cancer Center, Ann Arbor, MI. For more information and to register for these events, go to www.CancerRightsConference.org.

To better serve residents of Orange County, Community Outreach Program staff will hold office hours on the second and fourth Wednesdays of each month from 9 a.m. to 12 p.m. at the Dayle McIntosh Center in Garden Grove. That means this month we will host office hours at the center on July 13 and 27. Come meet our staff and learn about laws protecting the civil rights of those with disabilities, and services available to them, including health care, special education, government services and more. For more information, or to schedule an appointment, contact Maggie Hui, Community Outreach Program Coordinator, at (213) 736-1408 or Maggie.Hui@lls.edu. Video TDD (213) 736-8310; Video Relay Number (866) 912-8193. The Dayle McIntosh Center is located at 13272 Garden Grove Boulevard, Garden Grove, CA 92843-2205.