What happens when we know exercise improves outcomes for cancer survivors…but most patients still can’t access it?
In this episode, I sit down with the guest speakers behind the upcoming APTA CSM session “Mind the Gaps: Advancing Equitable Implementation of Evidence-Based Exercise Programs for Survivors of Cancer” to unpack the real-world barriers between evidence and practice in exercise oncology.
We dig into what it actually takes to implement evidence-based programs like Strength After Breast Cancer in clinical settings—and why equity has to be designed into the process from the start.
From pre-implementation planning and adapting programs on the fly, to building community partnerships that expand access for under-resourced and minority survivors, this conversation moves beyond theory into actionable strategies clinicians can use now.
If you care about closing research-to-practice gaps, advancing health equity, and delivering better rehab outcomes for cancer survivors, this one’s for you.
Mark your calendar for ON-24371 Mind the Gaps: Advancing Equitable Implementation of Evidence-Based Exercise Programs for Survivors of Cancer
ON-24371 – Mind the Gaps: Advancing Equitable Implementation of Evidence-Based Exercise Programs for Survivors of Cancer will take place on Saturday, February 12, 2025 at 10:30am.
This session will be available on-demand.
About Steve Wechsler, PT, DPT, PhD
Dr. Wechsler, PT, DPT, PhD is an Assistant Professor in the Department of Physical Therapy at Simmons University in Boston, MA. A Board-Certified Specialist in Neurologic Physical Therapy, Dr. Wechsler developed clinical expertise in cancer rehabilitation while working at Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center in New York City before returning home to Boston to complete a PhD in Rehabilitation Sciences at MGH Institute of Health Professions (IHP). His PhD and subsequent postdoctoral fellowship in the Cancer Rehabilitation (CaRe) Lab at MGH IHP focused on cancer-related fatigue, exercise self-efficacy, and exercise behaviors among survivors of cancer. His research agenda aims to develop and test behavioral rehabilitation interventions to optimize function, quality of life, and exercise behaviors among survivors throughout the cancer care continuum. Dr. Wechsler has previously served as Social Media Chair and Secretary for APTA Oncology, and currently serves as a member of the Editorial Board of Rehabilitation Oncology, the official journal of APTA Oncology. He has presented locally and nationally on the topic of cancer rehabilitation.
Connect with Steve on LinkedIn.
About Allison Snyder, PT, MSPT, CLT, CEEAA
Allison Snyder, PT, MSPT, CLT, CEEAA, received a MS in Physical Therapy from Northeastern University in 2002. Following graduation, she worked as an outpatient orthopedic physical therapy for 7 years. She moved to Boston in 2009 and began working at Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center where she helped develop a pelvic health PT program. In 2015, she began working at Massachusetts General Hospital as a pelvic health physical therapist and began to develop a passion for treating cancer survivors. She has a clinical interest in both pelvic health and oncology physical therapy care. She has achieved several certifications including: Certified Exercise Expert for the Aging Adult (APTA), Certification of Achievement in Pelvic Health (APTA), Certified Lymphedema Therapist (Klose Training) and is an APTA Certified Clinical Instructor. She also has been a site investigator for a group-based “Strength After Breast Cancer” physical therapy program at MGH and co-author of the paper titled: “Implementation of a Group Exercise Program for Survivors of Breast Cancer: Feasibility, Acceptability, and Adaptations”.
Connect with Allison on LinkedIn.
About Janae Finley, PT, DPT, CLT, CES
Dr. Janae Finley, PT, DPT, CLT, CES, received a BS in Exercise Science from Georgia State University in 2008 and graduated with a Doctorate in Physical Therapy from Emory University in 2012. Following graduation, she worked as an orthopedic physical therapist for 6 years and came to TurningPoint Breast cancer rehabilitation in 2019. Janae now specializes in the evidence-based treatment of patients with breast cancer and has a passion for reducing and eliminating disparities that exist in healthcare. Janae has partnered with local and national outreach programs to provide equitable care while reducing access as a barrier to care. Janae has co-authored a paper titled” Meeting the Rehabilitation and Support Needs of Breast Cancer Patients During Covid-19: Opening New Frontiers in Models of Care Delivery” published in the journal of Rehabilitation Oncology in October 2020. Janae has presented at the APTA Combined Sections Meeting with a platform and poster presentation in 2020. Janae is a certified edema specialist and an APTA Certified Clinical instructor. As a breast cancer survivor Janae brings a unique patient perspective into treating, caring for, and connecting with all patients.
About Hannah Afify, PT, DPT, CLT, CES
Dr. Hannah Afify, PT, DPT, CLT, CES, obtained a BA in Exercise and Sport Science from The University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill in 2014 and a Doctorate in Physical Therapy from The George Washington University in 2017. She started her PT career at an outpatient clinic in Decatur, GA where she began working with patients in the oncology population and patients with limb loss. Hannah achieved several certifications in the outpatient setting, including Dry Needling, IASTM and blood flow restriction training. Here she developed a love for working in Oncology Rehab and started a program within her company to improve patients’ access to care. After almost 4 years, she continued her career at TurningPoint Breast Cancer Rehabilitation. Since working at TurningPoint, Hannah has become an APTA Certified Edema Specialist and continues her work in providing evidence-based care to patients of all walks of life. She is passionate about addressing health-related disparities that exist in the Black and LGBTQIA+ community and works at a grant-funded clinic that specializes in this mission for half of her work week. Hannah also has guest lectured at local universities, community events, and organizations about the importance of intersectionality in healthcare. She is also an APTA certified Clinical Instructor and enjoys whenever she gets to work with PT students.
Connect with Hannah on LinkedIn.
Transcript
Elise Cantu (00:19)
Hey Onco PT and welcome to this episode of the Onco PT podcast. And we are continuing our CSM preview session with a really special topic and a really special panel of speakers that are going to be presenting at CSM. Their session is in the oncology session entitled oncology 24371 mind the gaps advancing equitable implementation of evidence-based exercise programs for survivors of cancer. Big name.
big topic, really important. And there’s some really cool buzzwords that really attracted me to this session initially. And that’s why I’m so excited they said yes to come on the podcast and give us a little preview of what’s coming up. So let me go ahead and first introduce our panel of speakers. We’ll go one by one. So I’m going to start with our repeat guest. You’ve already heard from him this month. We’re so excited to have him back. Steve Wexler, welcome back to the Onco PT podcast.
Steve W (01:15)
I hope they’re not tired of me, but it’s good to be back, Elise. Thanks so much.
Elise Cantu (01:19)
We’re so excited to have you back. know people are excited too. And then I’m gonna go around my screen here. So next up we have, excuse me, Hannah Afifi. Hannah, would you mind introducing yourself to the listeners?
Hannah Afify, PT, DPT (01:32)
No problem. So I am a physical therapist here in Atlanta, Georgia. I work for a small nonprofit organization called Turning Point Breast Cancer Rehab, along with another one of our panelists.
Elise Cantu (01:45)
I love a good team. Ooh, how exciting. So thank you so much, Hannah. Next up we have Janae Finley. Welcome, Janae.
Janae Finley (01:53)
Hi everyone, thanks for having me on. Again, my name is Jene Finley and I am also a physical therapist at Turning Point Breast Cancer Rehab in Atlanta, Georgia. ⁓ I am the assistant clinical director and as of January 1st, I have been there for seven years. So here I am.
Elise Cantu (02:09)
Congrats. Very, very
cool. And then last but certainly not least, have Allison Snyder next. Allison, welcome to the Onco PT podcast.
Allison Snyder (02:20)
Thank you and thank you for having us. ⁓ My name is Allison Snyder and I’m also a physical therapist and I work at Mass General Hospital at one of the satellite locations in Waltham, Massachusetts. And I’ve been practicing oncology physical therapy as well as pelvic health physical therapy. And I’m so excited to share all this information with everyone.
Elise Cantu (02:48)
So as I mentioned at the top of this episode, there were a lot of buzzwords that really stuck out to me. One of the big things, I think Steve knows this, but for the audience and the panel, implementation is like such a big thing that we believe in so fervently here at the Onco PT podcast. You know, we know that there is a significant gap between when research is published to when it’s actually widely implemented into clinical practice. But I also really love the equitable, the exercise programs. Like there’s so many things within this. So before we
kind of get into what people are going to get out of this session what they’re gonna take away from this what was your inspiration or your motivation behind putting together a this talk but also the team Steve
Steve W (03:32)
Yeah, so the inspiration for this presentation ⁓ stems from a project that was inspired by the great clinicians that are here on the podcast with me. ⁓ Back in 2023, I was in the midst of my postdoctoral fellowship at MGH Institute of Health Professions here in Boston. And ⁓ I was under the mentorship of Dr. Kathy Lyons, who’s an occupational therapist and ⁓ cancer survivorship expert and a clinician.
Allison Snyder and another PT, Lynn Gray Meltzer approached us ⁓ and they told us they wanted to implement this program called Strength After Breast Cancer, which is an evidence-based program that was founded, developed by Dr. Katie Schmitz over 15 years ago. It’s really well supported in the literature. And they very graciously, very collaboratively asked us if we wanted to study the implementation of this program.
⁓ And that was so aligned with ⁓ what Cathy and I were doing in the cancer rehabilitation lab or the care lab at MGH IHP. You know, we were really interested in applied science. So yes, we’re developing and conducting well controlled clinical trials to develop evidence that can then make it into practice. But we’re also really interested in studying, you know, what we call practice based evidence. So we as PTs, we do good stuff. But
you know, what better way to tell people about the stuff that we do than study it and learn why it’s good and why it works or why it doesn’t work and how we can do it better. And so we developed this implementation study for strength after breast cancer at MGH Waltham where Allison works. ⁓ And we studied it pretty rigorously. So not just the feasibility of implementing it, how acceptable it was, both the patients and clinicians, but we also studied
systematically how we had to adapt and change the program to make it fit in this unique clinical setting. ⁓ We did publish a paper, which we’re proud about. So last year, this publication came out in Translational Journal of American College of Sports Medicine. And in that paper, we detail ⁓ our implementation story. And we were pretty successful in implementing this program. But as with any article and project,
and implementation study, there were limitations, which kind of ties to the gaps that we’re referencing in the title of our presentation. So our sample that we were able to recruit for this implementation study, ⁓ probably reflective of the clinic and the population that was served where we first implemented this program, was very homogenous. So ⁓ all highly educated, well-resourced, ⁓ non-Hispanic white women.
Elise Cantu (06:16)
Tour.
Steve W (06:22)
to speak frankly. And we recognize that this is not just a limitation in our study, but it’s a limitation across cancer rehabilitation, across breast cancer rehabilitation, and ⁓ cancer research sort of at large. And so we started thinking about kind of next steps and how do we go about minding this gap and filling this gap and advancing this line of research. And it dawned on me, wait a minute, I’ve got some friends down in Atlanta who do great work.
Elise Cantu (06:22)
Mm-hmm. Mm-hmm.
Mm-hmm.
Steve W (06:52)
working with a very different patient population. ⁓ And so we linked up with Turning Point Breast Cancer Rehabilitation down in Atlanta. We’ve now expanded our implementation to two sites within Turning Point’s organization. ⁓ And we’re recruiting there and so far so good. And so as we hoped to do with the initial article that we published and what we hope to do now with this presentation is really just sort of share our experience ⁓
conducting this implementation study, ⁓ what went well, sort of the pitfalls that we tripped over and recovered from and figured out how to overcome, to provide a little bit of a roadmap for other researchers and clinicians and clinician researchers ⁓ to do the same. This field of oncology rehab has come so far, so fast really, ⁓ but there’s still some gaps.
A lot of healthcare disparities that are existing within this space that we as PTs, as researchers need to be really mindful of as we think about sort of advancing the field and taking the next step with our clinical care, with our research. So that was the motivation for this presentation.
Elise Cantu (07:48)
Mm-hmm. Mm-hmm.
Steve, I really appreciate that you talked about, again, like leading with the mind the gaps. And, you know, this is a common thing. You mentioned this previously. We know that research studies in oncology are not representative, and this isn’t an oncology specific thing, are not representative of the population of the United States and what we see in our communities. And so it really…
frankly limits the generalizability and the application that we can really put into this. Would you mind, so I’m not familiar with the Boston geography. So Waltham, is that like Boston suburb? Is that outside? Like what are we talking about here? Because Atlanta, very urban, right? Like it’s a very densely populated area. So what are we talking about with like, again, I know you mentioned, you know, well-resourced
highly educated non-Hispanic white women. Like is that a city? Is that suburban? Is that rural? Like what are we talking about here?
Allison Snyder (09:10)
Yeah, so Waltham is a suburb of Boston and its surrounding towns are fairly affluent. So that is probably why the, you know, homogenous population that we’ve thus far served.
Elise Cantu (09:13)
Okay.
Sure.
Steve W (09:33)
And part of what we ⁓ hope to communicate in our presentation is if you find yourself in a geographical location that is relatively limited ⁓ in the population that is available, that’s not a dead end. ⁓ But we need to think creatively about strategic partnerships that we develop to advance the research. And that we’ll talk about sort of
Elise Cantu (09:51)
Mm-hmm. Mm-hmm.
Steve W (10:03)
different partnerships that we developed. Obviously, I’ve already mentioned one developing this partnership with Turning Point, ⁓ but also developing partners with community members in different communities, speaking to them and saying, do you think this would work with the people in your community? Why, why not? How might we have to change the program to make it appeal, to make it feel safe, to make it resonate greater with your community?
It’s not a dead end if you find yourself sort of working ⁓ in the kind of area that we initially launched this program in.
Elise Cantu (10:39)
Mm-hmm, absolutely. So as far as, honestly, there’s so many different pathways this could go. And I’m sure that y’all will get into this in your presentation. I don’t want you to give away all of the amazingness that you’ll be talking about at your presentation. But since now expanding this to another site, we’re now in, with Turning Point Breast Center in Atlanta.
What are some of the like maybe modifications or changes or kind of adaptations that you’ve had to make from the original kind of model to now again like we’re in a different state we’re now in the south I’m in Texas y’all like we’re in the south it’s very different than you know like suburban urban Massachusetts so you know what are some of those like changes or modifications or adaptations that you’ve seen and had to make?
Janae Finley (11:37)
So also to piggyback off of what Allison and Steve were saying, so Turning Point has two locations. One of them is actually in downtown Atlanta, so definitely more of an urban location. And our main clinic is actually in a suburb outside of Atlanta, so definitely more of your affluent, ⁓ not quite as homogenous population, but definitely more of your affluent population. ⁓ Some of the adaptations that we
Elise Cantu (11:47)
Yeah, Mm-hmm.
Gotcha.
Janae Finley (12:03)
came in with were already done by Allison before we even got to our turning point locations. But some other things that we, I think, had to be more flexible with, especially in our ⁓ downtown clinic, was the time of day that patients could come. ⁓ Yeah, so that’s a really big challenge in that clinic. We definitely have more patients that have more. ⁓
Elise Cantu (12:07)
Nice.
⁓ yeah.
Janae Finley (12:28)
obligations outside of rehab. And so trying to figure out how to balance that with, you know, kids and jobs and patients in grad school and our nurses and trying to balance all that was definitely some of the adaptations that we had to make for that clinic. And then I know that Hannah and I, you know, we had this goal of we had two time slots on each of our set, our schedules each week. And we were like, we’re going to stick to these time slots. And it just didn’t.
Elise Cantu (12:44)
Mm-hmm.
Janae Finley (12:54)
It didn’t happen. We were just kind of like, whatever you can make time frame wise to come in, we’ll figure it out and we’ll go from there. And that seemed to work for us too though, I think.
Elise Cantu (12:56)
Yeah.
Totally, totally.
Yeah. Now with the strength after breast cancer, you know, that y’all implemented, I’ve seen it implemented different ways. Was it a like one-on-one where you have the patient come in and you’re doing that, or was it more like a small group kind of setting? What did that look like? Because that also adds a layer of logistical challenges depending which way you go to.
Allison Snyder (13:27)
Yeah, so we ⁓ really set out to provide a group-based ⁓ strength officer breast cancer program, which as you say, does have its challenges and limitations. ⁓ But we felt that there were potential benefits, both the social aspect, ⁓ getting cancer survivors together, as well as we wanted to see if it would potentially improve access to care.
⁓ You know, our wait lists are long. ⁓ Could we have more patients in ⁓ all together where we’re sharing similar exercises for this patient population?
Elise Cantu (14:13)
And you know, there’s benefits to group exercise like that. We see this, but also kind of a camaraderie amongst all of that. So that’s really cool that y’all were doing that. Why do you think it’s so important for attendees to go to this session? I obviously think so. I have lots of thoughts, but I’d love your thoughts on this.
Allison Snyder (14:34)
So ⁓ we feel it’s important for attendees to come to our session at CSM because we really feel very passionate about ⁓ improving the access to programs like this. ⁓ And I know when we were first starting to implement this program at MGH, we were also a bit nervous about how to go about ⁓ starting this and ⁓ providing the structure.
And so we really hope that ⁓ attendees can learn from how we went about ⁓ setting up the program, ⁓ learn from our mistakes, and really ⁓ just to improve the access to programs like this across the country.
Elise Cantu (15:24)
One of the things that I see a lot in my practice I’ve seen over the past eight or so years is, you know, we will get started with patients and you know, maybe I get them to a certain level where we, take care of their
like most immediate impairments, but a lot of that bridge to getting them back into independent or community-based exercise is really lacking. And I think that’s one of the really beautiful things about the Strength After Breast Cancer program is it really is a bridge that can be implemented. It can be started with a physical therapist. And depending on what’s kind of available in your community, maybe you can bridge a patient out to some other community-based resources. Here in Fort Worth, Texas, I have a few different ⁓
connections with different exercise groups that specialize or have a lot of experience working with cancer survivors that I’m comfortable saying, okay, we’ve kind of reached a point where you don’t really need what I can offer, you need more of this, but that’s not always what’s available in a lot of communities, you know, and people may not have access to this. Maybe it comes from like Janae was saying, a logistical standpoint of like, maybe it’s the time, maybe it is,
I have so many things as a patient that I’m trying to do. have so many appointments. Also, I have a life outside of this. And I have kids, I have work, I have volunteer things, I have all these things that I’m doing. But then also the financial side of things. I’m sure that’s a significant barrier. And even if we haven’t said that outright in this conversation yet, that’s definitely something that our patients are dealing with. As we know that cancer is a very financially toxic.
condition for so many people to be experiencing. When it comes to, and I’m not trying to make this all about money, like logistically, financially, how are y’all making it work to where patients can come in? Like, is this a normal PT session that they’re doing? Is this like, are you doing something different? What does that look like?
Hannah Afify, PT, DPT (17:23)
Yeah, and Elise, I think I can speak to that. ⁓ I think one of the most interesting things about being able to work with the Strength After Breast Cancer program was seeing it implemented across our two sites. I think for our Atlanta Initiative site, think something like 49 % of our patients were on our financial assistance program. It became kind of an ability and a strength, so to speak.
Elise Cantu (17:46)
Sure, sure.
Hannah Afify, PT, DPT (17:52)
for us to be able to use this program and allow patients to still have that financial assistance program that they were getting physical therapy through to also cover their strength after breast cancer visits. So it allowed us to kind of address the financial piece while still letting them have this wonderful program that really does create that bridge between physical therapy and the community exercise that we know is
Elise Cantu (18:05)
Nice.
Hannah Afify, PT, DPT (18:20)
so helpful and so important for survivorship. But you know sometimes it’s not always feasible. In terms of transportation we’re right next to a MARTA stop so we kind of were able to leverage a lot of the features of our downtown location and why it is so important and special to us to kind of help with implementation of this program.
Elise Cantu (18:38)
Nice.
Mm-hmm.
Steve W (18:46)
And I will add, stretching back through Dr. Katie Schmitz’s work, studying the implementation of strength after breast cancer in its various forms, a consistent barrier throughout all of that work is payment. And it’s a nut that we didn’t totally crack in the first iteration of this at MGH Waltham. That remained one of our primary barriers.
We, it was a clinical program. was billed as group physical therapy. So it was billed to insurance as physical therapy. ⁓ That’s a little bit of a different format than some of the other survivorship groups at MGH, which are provided free of charge. So I think that came as a little bit of a surprise to some participants. So it’s a nut we haven’t totally cracked, but again, exploring different ⁓ payment options and different
Elise Cantu (19:18)
Mm-hmm.
Sure.
Steve W (19:43)
implementation models like we’re doing down in Atlanta helps us sort of think a little bit more broadly about, ⁓ you know, when you’ve seen a program implemented in one clinic, you’ve seen it in one clinic. ⁓ If we’re thinking sort of big picture and beyond just strength after breast cancer, you know, I hope one of the things that that participants will take away from this presentation is I hope they can generalize some of some of the lessons that we’ve learned and that will bring to the presentation to think about implementing other exercise.
Elise Cantu (19:56)
Mm-hmm.
Yeah.
Steve W (20:13)
programs ⁓ for ⁓ survivors of cancer. ⁓ So thinking about what this model and ⁓ program looks like in different models with different ⁓ socioeconomic classes and payment restrictions and insurance availability, it really helps us learn about sort of how to improve access.
Elise Cantu (20:39)
Absolutely. And again, to the listener, I’m not expecting Steve, Hannah, Janae and Allison to have everything figured out by the end of this presentation, but I really appreciate that y’all have taken this and you’re now expanding it to other communities and other places around the country to really see what’s, and this is one of the things, someone said this, it was at last year’s CSM session. It was a exercise, it was a group.
based exercise program for individuals with Parkinson disease and spinal cord injury out of Arkansas. And it was really cool. And one of the things they talked about was exactly that, Steve, of like, how can you generalize this? Because just because it’s working this way for us in Northwest Arkansas doesn’t mean that it’s going to work for you in your communities. And I think that’s one of the real strengths about the work that y’all are doing is that you can see it being implemented at very different
like geographically, socioeconomically, from a ⁓ city setting, urban, suburban, and then being able to extrapolate those key points and then for the clinician who’s listening to this and who’s going to attend your session to be able to take that back to their own communities and say, these are the pearls I took away from this.
And now this is how I’m going to make it work for my patients in my own community. And that’s what I’m really excited for. Again, the implementation side of this is going to be so, so cool. And I think it’s going to really impact a lot of not only practitioners who are of course attending your session, but the patients and caregivers they go home to and spread out this goodness. So I’m really excited for this. What do you want attendees to take away from this CSM session?
Janae Finley (22:33)
didn’t know who wanted to go first. Honestly, and not to be cliche again, but it’s really a good way to see how we do bridge that gap and that need for inclusive programs and inclusion in research, not just the program itself and how community-based models look kind of in real life and how use of a community-based model has much more of a reach than some of our standard private clinics do. I think that
Elise Cantu (22:42)
Yes.
Janae Finley (23:02)
With that being said, there are some adaptations that we did have to make, but again, community-based models are inherently more inclusive. I think showing our patients that it is feasible, it is something you can do. It may take a little bit of a work around, but you can incorporate it in your everyday life. There are some adaptations that may be made for you, but really,
navigating and taking this program to the next level and making sure that it continues to grow, I think is what they’ll take away from our session.
Elise Cantu (23:42)
Yeah, love that.
Hannah Afify, PT, DPT (23:44)
Yeah, absolutely. And piggybacking off of that, know, Janay talked about like representation and research. ⁓ I think I was in a CSM session last year. It was like the research roundup and somebody commented that we do know so much about exercise, but like we need to get better about like, how do we do this? Where do we do this? So one of the things that excited me about working with Steve was
we get the chance to see how what we have here in Atlanta can be changed, can be adapted based on our two clinic populations and how that might be translatable for others to see, you know, how do you be, how can you be inclusive of your community, whatever it looks like, ⁓ based on what someone else has done, right? You know what went well, you know what maybe we can improve upon in the future and how can you tailor it.
Elise Cantu (24:21)
Mm-hmm.
Hannah Afify, PT, DPT (24:40)
based on the resources you have in your community to be a sustainable community based exercise program that is the things we read about all the time in the literature, right? How can you feature that in your communities?
Elise Cantu (24:52)
Mm-hmm.
Janae Finley (24:58)
One other thing that I will add to that is I think it also, people will take away the importance of a pre-implementation process when you are developing these programs and how to go about it. And you’ll get that pre-implementation, but it’s not gonna be perfect. You still are probably gonna have to be flexible, but seeing this program in real life and how it looks kind of in real life for people of all races, of all backgrounds is really kind of key what they’ll get out of this.
Elise Cantu (25:28)
Janaye, I appreciate you putting the real layer on this. One of the things my husband and I talk about a lot is wow and how. And so sometimes one of us will come home with a big wow idea. We’re like, my God, this amazing. And then there’s the how person who will then say, how are we going to make this work? And I think CSM… ⁓
is incredible because I leave and I’m like, wow, I have so many ideas. But then you kind of get back to real life and you’re like, how am I actually gonna make this work? And I think this, these kind of sessions are what are bringing the wow and the how together to carry that momentum and excitement that you feel from being around so many physical therapy professionals who are excited about this, who are equally as passionate about oncology rehab and implementing it into your own community. Like taking that and then also,
Here’s how you can make it work in your own community. Here’s how you can get started. And like Janae said, having a little time to do some pre-implementation, have a plan. And then when you get through the first round, you make changes. You know, I think that’s the theme of this entire conversation we’ve been having is you did it one place and it was really cool. And then you had to make changes and you’re going to continue making changes. And what’s going to work in one place is not going to work for somebody else in another community. And that’s okay.
Steve W (26:19)
Thank
Elise Cantu (26:46)
That’s okay. We’re not looking for cookie cutter cancer rehab. We’re looking for what’s going to serve you and your community. How can you meet those humans as the human in you and really make this work in your own communities? So y’all, I’m super pumped about this. People are really going to take a lot away from this session. I know there’s a lot of people who are really excited about this because I think this has been needed for a long time in cancer rehab. We know it works.
We know it’s beneficial for patients, this is really where we kind of, we really do bridge that gap and make it happen in our own communities. So some logistical information before we wrap up. When is your session taking place at CSF?
Steve W (27:31)
I would love to tell you that it’s on Valentine’s Day, the 14th, which is Saturday ⁓ at 10.30 a.m. So we enough time to get coffee, wake up, roll out of bed Saturday morning and come to our presentation.
Elise Cantu (27:42)
standing.
And then you can leave after their session to go catch your airplane or whatever you’re doing. That usually happens on Saturday. So that is Saturday. What’s that?
Steve W (27:54)
We’re going.
I’m just going to give them the option to go to Disney. I think we get discounted tickets or something this year.
Elise Cantu (28:01)
We
do get discounted tickets for Disney, so like take advantage of that while you’re out there. Y’all, we did just go in November for a family trip. First time, two thumbs up, so definitely check it out. But go and spend your Valentine’s Day with Alice and Janae, Hannah and Steve at this amazing presentation. Once again, it is taking place Saturday, February 14th at 10.30 a.m. If you are looking for that session, either in the app or on the website,
It is within the oncology section. again, oncology 24371, mind the gaps, advancing equitable implementation of evidence-based exercise programs for survivors of cancer. So, so excited for this. We cannot wait to see this
Cannot thank you enough for really bringing this kind of content to CSM. ⁓
because this is what we really need. I think what we need to be really leading with. If we’re going to make all of this cancer rehab research goodness that we know is out there, actually make it into clinical practice before 17 years. So thank you so, so much. Very excited for this. I’m really excited to see what becomes of this, not just with the work that you are probably going to continue doing, but also what kind of ripples you inspire to happen in other places around the country for cancer rehab.
So thank you so much once again, everybody, for coming on the podcast today. I really, really appreciate your time and I cannot wait to see y’all at CSM for this session. One more time, everybody. It is oncology 24371, Mind the Gaps, Advancing Equitable Implementation of Evidence-Based Exercise Programs for Survivors of Cancer, Saturday, February 14th at 10.30 a.m. And you can find wherever it’s taking place on the website or on the app. I don’t have that info, but I’m sure it’s there for you.
So Alison, Janae, Hannah, Steve, thank you so much for coming on the podcast. I really, really appreciate your time. Cannot wait to see you and meet some of you for the first time at CSM. And until next time, this is Elise with the Onco PT. And remember, you are exactly the physical therapist that your patients with cancer need. So let’s get to work.