Updated Chemotherapy and Radiation Therapy Booklets Now Available

It wasn't that long ago when the National Cancer Institute was looking for reviewers to help update their chemotherapy and radiation therapy brochures. The revised editions are now available and it is estimated
that nearly half a million copies of each will be distributed to Cancer Centers and health professionals annually.

The booklets focus on the most common treatment side effects and ways to manage them. Each side effect has its own section describing what it is, why it occurs, ways to manage and ways to obtain more information. the new formats are user-friendly. Written in plain language, they feature a larger font size and contain more white space for readability. They have also been resized for easier photocopying.

These documents can be viewed in html and/or downloaded in .PDF format.

Women's Health Fact Sheets in Spanish

The U.S. Food and Drug Administration's Office of Women's Health consumer health fact sheets are now available entirely in Spanish. OWH recently released 42 new Spanish-language publications on a range of topics including depression, generic drugs, heart disease, cosmetics, arthritis, mammography, HIV, and food safety. These easy-to-read fact sheets complement OWH's other Spanish language materials on diabetes, menopause, and safe medication use.

Copies of these fact sheets can be viewed in html or downloaded in .PDF format. They can also be ordered for free in bulk quantities.

Handout on Mourning the Death of a Spouse

NIH's National Institute on Aging (NIA) has developed a new publication called "Mourning the Death of a Spouse". This brochure provides a list of resources and offers information on topics such as understanding grief, tips for facing a new life alone, and a checklist of some important financial and legal "to-do's". This "Age Page" can be downloaded from the NIA website in .PDF format or free print copies can be ordered from the NIA website or by calling toll-free 1-800-222-2225.

Celiac Disease

The National Institute of Diabetes and Digestive and Kidney Diseases, as part of its Celiac Disease Awareness Campaign, has two new 2007 publications available for patients and their families.

The first is "What I Need to Know About Celiac Disease". This easy-to-read, 20-page booklet, discusses the symptoms, diagnosis and treatment of celiac disease and provides some brief nutritional information related to a gluten-free diet. This brochure is available free of charge on the web and can also be downloaded in .pdf format.

The second resource is "Celiac Disease News", a summary of the latest news both in the medical literature and the popular press, related to Celiac disease. This newsletter can be accessed online in .pdf format or patients and their families can subscribe to the newsletter and receive the document by email.

Currently, these resources are available in English only.

ABA's Consumer's Tool Kit for Health Care Advance Planning

The American Bar Association's Commission on Law & Aging has a free web resource available to the public called "Consumer's Tool Kit for Health Care Advance Planning". The tool kit "contains a variety of self-help worksheets, suggestions, and resources." There are 10 tools in all and they include: How to select your health care agent or proxy; Are some conditions worse than death?; How do you weigh odds of survival; personal priorities and spiritual values important to your medical decisions; after death decisions to think about now; conversation scripts: getting past the resistance; the proxy quiz for family & physician; what to do after signing your health care advance directive; guide for health care proxies; and resources: advance planning for health care. These tools are available in .pdf format in English only.

Recipe Bookmarks Available from "The Cancer Project"

One of the goals of The Cancer Project, based in Washington DC, is to provide "comprehensive information about the role of dietary factors in keeping people healthy." The Cancer Project has announced the availability of an adorable pair of bookmarks, each containing a recipe that helps promote a diet "rich in fruits, vegetables, and whole grains, low in fat, loaded with fiber, and full of cancer-fighting antioxidants" and encourages kids to try new foods. The two recipes featured are "Man’s Best Friend,” Broccoli Poodle: Cream of Broccoli Soup Recipe" and “All Aboard the Fiber Express,” Squash School Bus: Spaghetti Squash and Mushrooms Recipe. One set of child-friendly bookmarks may be ordered free of charge from The Cancer Project.

Chemotherapy Fact Sheet Available in 11 Languages

The Inova Fairfax Hospital Life with Cancer program has developed a Chemotherapy tip sheet available in English, Spanish, French, Korean, Russian, Vietnamese, Ukrainian, Chinese, Farsi, Urdu, Arabic, and Somali.

The fact sheet provides 11 suggestions for dealing with the physical and emotional side effects of chemotherapy.