Two Indiana organizations have teamed up to fight breast cancer is a new way. Susan G. Komen Central Indiana has launched a peer-to-peer website with WhatFriendsDo, a startup that is part of the Innovate Indiana Fund portfolio.
More Than Friends is dedicated to battling breast cancer and making the cancer journey a little more bearable for the patient and their loved ones. The website launched in March 2017 to provide ways for existing friends to support each other during critical times of need, while also facilitating new connections between local breast cancer patients and Komen Central Indiana volunteers who want to lend a hand.
“In our world, pink is much more than a color. It represents the impact each person is making in the fight against the most frequently diagnosed cancer in the world,” said Natalie Sutton, executive director of Komen Central Indiana. “Through this initiative, we are eager to deepen our impact in the communities we serve and directly touch the lives of breast cancer patients who are beloved sisters, wives, mothers, coworkers and friends.”
Aimee Kandrac, founder and CEO of WhatFriendsDo, says she and her core team were inspired to create the online platform after banding together to help a close friend with a devastating cancer diagnosis. The experience of rallying around their friend and working together to deliver meals, provide family support and take care of chores, Kandrac said, illustrated the power of a collective purpose and the need for a single organizing space that combines functions like scheduling, fundraising and communication.
“WhatFriendsDo is like that super-organized sister or friend who coordinates the group response, assessing what’s needed, defining ways people can help, organizing support and keeping everyone informed and updated so that they get involved early and stay engaged every step of the way — because that’s what friends do,” Kandrac said.
It’s free to use More Than Friends, from creating a support network to joining an existing network. From there, the user can access a variety of tools, including:
- A calendar to help users organize practical tasks, like meal delivery, errands, transportation, child care and more, making it easier to fit helping a loved one into a hectic schedule
- A “Help Registry” that allows users to build wish lists of items needed during a cancer journey
- A “Leave a Note” feature that allows members of a support network to send encouraging messages
- A blog and photo video board that cancer patients can use to let their network know about their progress. It can be exhausting to keep everyone updated through a cancer journey, and this feature streamlines the process.
The site also features daily tips and a personal concierge service to provide expertise to those going through an event and the people who want to help them in a meaningful way. Learn about other features on the How It Works page.
This partnership comes at an ideal time, as Komen Central Indiana and Susan G. Komen take on the challenge to save more lives. Komen announced a bold goal in September 2016 to reduce the current number of breast cancer deaths by 50 percent in the U.S. by 2026.
While the More Than Friends website may not directly save lives, the service goes a long way in improving the quality of care for breast cancer patients. Research shows people who have a strong social support network tend to recover more quickly and have lower hospital readmission rates.
Leave a Reply