Treatment alone is not the cure: The Effect that Community Resources Have on Health Outcomes

IMProving Access, Counseling and Treatment for Californians with Prostate Cancer (IMPACT) is a state-funded prostate cancer treatment program for uninsured and under-insured low-income men throughout California. Although IMPACT is mandated to only pay for prostate cancer treatment, the Program recognized that the disadvantaged men face numerous other barriers which affect their health outcomes and quality of life. Therefore, IMPACT utilized geocoding to identify the available social services in the participant's community with a particular emphasis on social services available in rural areas of the State of California. This presentation will discuss the necessity for a combined joint network between health care programs and social service providers to reduce barriers faced by disadvantaged populations to ensure a greater quality of life for patients' before, during, and after prostate cancer treatment. When patients are concerned with the inability to cover basic necessities, such as food and shelter, the outcomes of prostate cancer treatment will not be successful. Therefore, the IMPACT Program meets more than just a patient's medical needs. IMPACT acts like a concierge for patients enrolled in the Program providing them with essential links to a variety of needed social services such food pantries, low-cost clinics, and support groups. Patients whose primary concerns are lack of base necessities, such as food and shelter, cannot have positive health outcomes. By providing these links, the Program strives to treat the whole patient not just the disease. As a result, patients undergoing and recovering from prostate cancer treatment may have better health outcomes.