Advancements in Lung Cancer Clinical Trials | Updates for Veterans
Advancements in Lung Cancer Clinical Trials: Updates for Veterans from Patient Empowerment Network on Vimeo.
How can veterans help move lung cancer clinical trial advancements forward? Expert Dr. Drew Moghanaki from UCLA Health explains clinical trial groups that need more participants, available support resources for veterans, and patient advice.
[ACT]IVATION TIP
“…speak up and ask if there is a clinical trial that you may be eligible for to help another veteran. And, of course, when you enroll in a trial, you’ll be getting basically the best treatments that we think are available at this time.”
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Veteran Lung Cancer Risk | Understanding Exposures and Screening Protocols |
Transcript:
Lisa Hatfield:
Dr. Moghanaki, can you speak to ongoing clinical trials and research specifically for veterans? And are there any clinical trials or research studies available that focus on lung cancer treatments specifically tailored to veterans from underrepresented communities?
Dr. Drew Moghanaki:
Yeah. So we want to focus on the people we care about the most, which for many of us are veterans, but at the end of the day, partnering nationally and globally in clinical trials is probably the best thing that we can do. We don’t really think that the lung cancer is…that our veterans are dealing with is necessarily different than what a civilian may be. So by partnering, we have bigger scale to tackle these problems and get these studies done as quickly as possible.
When it comes to underserved communities, same thing. We do the VA and VA researchers definitely make a point of trying to get more underrepresented communities access to clinical trials. But again, we just usually geographic challenges are our biggest barrier. Someone wants to live in this beautiful part of the country up in a mountainside near a lake, but they’re two-and-a-half hours away from a city. That can be challenging for us.
But the good news is that the VA does provide a lot of housing. So for those veterans who live far away, if they want to come, we’ll take care of them. We’ll provide, if they’re eligible for your VA healthcare, we’ll provide them housing. We can even provide them with their meals. And so, and get them access to the best care. So basically my activation tip here is to be aware that clinical trials are really critical.
It’s how we’ve moved forward. It’s a tremendous opportunity to help other veterans behind themselves who will get lung cancer in the future. There’s nothing we can do at this time to stop the number of people getting lung cancer. And so the more research we can do, the better this world can be. And my activation tip is to speak up and ask if there is a clinical trial that you may be eligible for to help another veteran. And, of course, when you enroll in a trial, you’ll be getting basically the best treatments that we think are available at this time.
Lisa Hatfield: Great. Thank you. Thank you so much. Those activation tips were really great and patient-centered. And I think that’s what, at least me as a patient, watching that in the audience, that’s what I want to hear is what can I do to help advocate for myself? So thank you for those responses.
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Is It Possible to Achieve Health Equity in Multiple Myeloma?
Is It Possible to Achieve Health Equity in Multiple Myeloma? from Patient Empowerment Network on Vimeo.
How can health equity be achieved for underserved communities in multiple myeloma patient care? Watch as a panel of myeloma experts explains.
See More From the Diverse Partners in Your Myeloma Care Program
Transcript:
Rebecca Law:
I want to ask each of you to answer a question. So how can we achieve health equity in the care of multiple myeloma patients sooner rather than later?
Diahanna Vallentine:
I think we all appreciate the fact that the African American or underserved communities do not have enough people that are either willing or know that we need to go into those communities the way they are, meet the people the way they are, so that we can provide them with education, with resources, that are available. I think that is one of the first steps. And fortunately, or unfortunately, with the racial problems we’re having in our country right now, a lot of governors and mayors are opening up opportunities that we got to get into the communities. And I think this might be a great opportunity for the myeloma community to perhaps step up and say we would like to be presented or represented in the community when there are funds and when the interest is really high. I think that if we could establish a foothold that way, then we can just go on and work toward lessening that gap and disparities in the undeserved communities.
Dr. Sikander Ailawadhi:
Diahanna, that was really nicely put. I think what I can add to that is that we basically are already seeing a lot more discussion, a lot more focus coming up to this topic of racial disparity in multiple myeloma at different levels. So, what we need to do is continue to build upon that momentum, continue to build the relationships so that there is actually a combined force from various aspects. I would love to do telehealth going forward, but like Dr. Usmani brought up, if there is not enough reimbursement or leadership or legislation to support all of that, then our wants and needs may not be served fully. So I think developing those relationships, developing those partnerships and moving forward as we’re gaining momentum to address this particular question, this particular issue is extremely important. And I feel it is more hopeful and exciting in the future as compared to where we’ve come from.
Jenny Ahlstrom:
I would just reiterate what Diahanna said. I think it’s in building the programs that are simple enough for everybody to understand and utilize that makes just the usability of them as available as possible, and then building that relationship in those communities where the needs are. I totally agree with what Diahanna’s saying, you need to take the programs to the people where they are and not to expect them to come to your programs.
Dr. Saad Usmani:
I agree with everything that has been said on this topic. And I have to say that this is going to be a two-way dialogue, a two-way partnership. That’s the only way that this can succeed moving forward. Racial disparities are an inherent part of our everyday life, whether it’s in healthcare, whether it’s in other interactions we have with each other, and there’s a lot of historic perspective and context to that. This is not going to be a quick fix, this is going to be a long-term process. But it will have to be a partnership. And I’m talking on a broader level with myeloma care and better survival outcomes for all myeloma patients as the goal. But then looking at the overall societal goals as well, and trying to see how we can remove the inherent biases that everyone has and develop more fruitful productive relationships going forward in our respective geographic regions, but overall in our country as well. I think that’s the overarching theme and tone of the conversations we’re having in the country right now, and it certainly makes sense to do that for myeloma care as well.
Rebecca Law:
I want to take the time to thank each and every one of you for joining me today. On behalf of the Patient Empowerment Network and Diverse Health Hub, I am Rebecca Law. Thank you.
