I received an email from Emily Faucette, Genomic Health, 415-595-9407, asking me to help spread the word about a free app for iPhone and Android. The Cancer Coach App, as it is called, helps patients better understand their personalized treatment options and manage their cancer journey.
The Cancer Coach app is presented by Breastcancer.org and Fight Colorectal Cancer, in partnership with Genomic Health.
Here is the press release that Emily asked me to share.
REDWOOD CITY, CA – October 25, 2011 -Genomic Health, Inc.<http://www.genomichealth.com/Company/LabVideo.aspx?SId=52>, (Nasdaq: GHDX) today launched a smartphone application designed to help people who are newly diagnosed with breast cancer or colon cancer to better access and manage information important for their personalized treatment plan.
The application was developed in partnership with Breastcancer.org<http://www.breastcancer.org/> and Fight Colorectal Cancer<http://fightcolorectalcancer.org/>, creating a natural extension of the original My Breast Cancer Coach and My Colon Cancer Coach online tools to empower patients to make better informed decisions about their treatment based on accurate, accessible and personalized medical information about their cancer.
The app, called the Cancer Coach, features a calendar to mark medical appointments, important questions for the doctor, audio notepad function that records additional questions and responses, glossary, and a journal to keep track of key information shared during physician visits throughout diagnosis and treatment.
“More and more women are seeking information about breast cancer, not just online, but using their mobile devices. The Cancer Coach app fulfills this need for reliable resources on-the-go as patients and their personal support networks navigate a new diagnosis,” said Hope Wohl, CEO of Breastcancer.org<http://www.breastcancer.org/>. “Our partnership with Genomic Health on My Breast Cancer Coach and the Cancer Coach app supports our mission to help breast cancer patients and their loved ones make sense of complex medical information so they can make the most informed decisions.”
The Cancer Coach app walks patients through a simple questionnaire with audio guidance for breast cancer by Lillie Shockney, RN, Administrative Director of the Johns Hopkins Avon Foundation Breast Center and for colon cancer by Richard M. Goldberg, MD, Professor and Physician-in-Chief of the James Cancer Hospital and Associate Director of the James Cancer Center at the Ohio State University. Based on a patient’s responses, the Cancer Coach creates a customized treatment information guide that can be shared with their physician as they discuss treatment options.
The Cancer Coach app is available on Apple iTunes and in the Android Market and features additional resources for breast and colon cancer, as well as a RSS news feed unique to newly diagnosed breast cancer or colon cancer patients.
“We believe that as the biology of cancer becomes better defined it is critical that every woman begin to take a more informed and active role in her treatment plan,” said Randy Scott, founder and executive chairman of the board, Genomic Health. “The Cancer Coach app allows patients to store and access high quality personalized information right at their fingertips so that it is readily available as they decide with their healthcare team how best to proceed with treatment.”
Carlea Bauman, president of Fight Colorectal Cancer<http://fightcolorectalcancer.org/>, believes colon cancer patients and their caretakers will find the Cancer Coach app to be extremely helpful as they are able to take the resources of My Colon Cancer Coach with them into the doctor’s office, and use the key features of a smart phone to help manage all the information shared during health care visits, “The app is an effective tool for patients to have in hand, especially when they meet with their doctor. It gives them information unique to their diagnosis that can really make a difference in the discussion abouttreatment,” she said.
The personalized treatment information guides provided by My Breast Cancer Coach and My Colon Cancer Coach online tools and the Cancer Coach app were developed in accordance with National Cancer Cooperative Network(r) (NCCN(r)) clinical treatment guidelines. [1]
The Cancer Coach app is available for iPhone(r)<http://goo.gl/ql1Wd> and for Android(r)<http://goo.gl/CMLrM>. It can also be downloaded from My Breast CancerCoach<http://www.mybreastcancercoach.org/> and My Colon CancerCoach<http://www.mycoloncancercoach.org/>, or by visiting the Apple(r) store or Android Market on a mobile device and searching for “Cancer Coach.” [2]
