What is a survivor?
Remember that powerful ‘70s song by Gloria Gaynor, “I Will Survive!”?
As she belts out her proud and courageous words you can visualize her standing tall with her chest held high…
“I will survive
Oh, as long as I know how to love I know I’ll stay alive
I’ve got all my life to live
I’ve got all my love to give
And I’ll survive
I will survive, hey, hey!”
A Survivor, by definition:
1: a person who continues to live after an accident, illness, war, etc.
2: someone who is able to keep living or succeeding despite a lot of difficulties in their life
The word Survivor often brings to mind an individual who has defied the odds and/or escaped death. We rarely think of a survivor as someone who continues to struggle from the effects of their illness or difficulties.
There are survivors notably in historic world events, tragedies and natural disasters. Famous survivors like author Judy Blume and singer/songwriter Carly Simon, who are breast cancer survivors, theoretical physicist Stephen Hawking, an ALS survivor, and Millvina Dean, who was the last survivor of the Titanic disaster, help to spread awareness of their events and specific diagnoses.
Anyone touched by illness or an event that has challenged their health, function and their ability to be their everyday selves is considered a survivor, whether they are a patient, caregiver, provider or community member. Cancer is often the first medical diagnosis that we think of when we hear the word survivor; however, all medical diagnoses yield survivors due to the physical, neurological, psychological, social, relational and financial issues that often result from serious or chronic diseases and their courses of treatment.
Supporting Our Survivors
It is the ethical responsibility of all medical professionals to ensure that each survivor has the knowledge, and resources to specialty services for social, emotional and spiritual support, as well as support for their physical impairments that limit them from functioning at their optimum level.
Healthcare systems need to prioritize hardwiring acute and ongoing survivorship services so that providers don’t “forget” to refer or ask. Survivors and their families are often unaware of what services exist and what they might need or could benefit them. Medical care is the first step for treatment for survivors; survivorship services allows them to maximize the quality of life while the disease is cured or controlled.
As our healthcare system evolves and becomes more sophisticated, the population of survivors grows. Each survivor, in all areas of medicine, has unique needs and the right to attain the highest quality of life possible, at any level of health, under any circumstances. Survivors desperately require and seek the specialty services to help them attain their best self, not a “new normal.” Survivorship is simply the journey we are all on to achieve satisfaction and contentment in life despite the bumps in the road.
Kristin M. Carroll is an oncology physical therapist and is the Co-Founder and Director of Clinical Operations of Survivorship Solutions, LLC., a healthcare consultancy firm, located in Hartford and Chicago.
For more information on how to integrate Survivorship Services into your community, contact us at www.survivorshipsolutions.com