Event for a new era of Cancer Treatment and Support

On Wednesday, September 16th, Health Global Connect (HGC) launched its beta site in a joint symposium with Fred Hutchinson Cancer Research Center and Asian Counseling Referral Services (ACRS) on Seattle's historic Beacon Hill.

The evening opened with a one hour reception for guests to meet and mingle. Attendees crowded around HGC demonstration tables to get a walk-through of the beta site. On display was the first of many features that HGC plans to roll out: Time Capsule, a way for patients to capture memories to pass on to family, friends and future generations. A home for their legacy.

Later during the event, Co-Founder, Lyon Wong, formally introduced the company to a packed room of community leaders, technophiles, and many patients, caregivers and survivors. Lyon spoke about the team's mission to provide hope and support to the cancer community, addressing the needs of patients and caregivers with 4 principle areas of development:

* Connection: The primary driving force behind HGC--patients and caregivers around the world can connect with each other directly using HGC's web-based platform.

* Caregiving: HGC members will be able to care, or microvolunteer, for one another in small manageable ways--donating their time to give emotional support or practical help.

* Contribution: Organizations, in addition to individuals, will be able to donate their services and goods, increasing awareness for what they provide and encouraging the rest of the community to do the same.

* Closure: An opportunity to leave a legacy, patients and caregivers will be able to create a Time Capsule, a groundbreaking feature that allows the community to reflect and record their thoughts as they navigate the cancer journey.

Fred Hutchinson immunotherapy researcher, Dr. Cassian Yee, followed Lyon's overview of HGC. Dr. Yee is a pioneer in the field of adoptive immunotherapy, in which special cancer-fighting T-cells are extracted from a patient's body, multiplied in a lab, and transplanted back into the patient. In this way, the immune system is charged up to destroy solid tumor cells.

After Dr. Yee's lecture, Ms. Jo Ann Henderson, a coordinator of several Hutchinson Center prevention studies, took the stage. Ms. Henderson spoke to the need for research volunteers, specifically the role that diverse communities can play in working with research institutions as they develop new therapies. She also stressed the importance of taking the role seriously and bringing your own community on board to support you through the process.

A natural challenge to any research undertaking is finding the right candidates for clinical trials, individuals who meet the standards for inclusion and who are wholly committed to the research. Many trials stay mired in early phases because of the difficulty of finding the right, dedicated candidates. In the near future, HGC wants to explore how this process can be made seamless, with members signing up for and receiving tailored recommendations for trials that apply to their situation. For the patient involved in the clinical trial, HGC can be their link to the research institution running the trial and the community of supporters who may aid them immensely in completion of the trial.

In many ways, the event represented what Health Global Connect hopes to sustain as it grows: community participation. Volunteer today!

For more information, check out http://blog.healthglobalconnect.com