06/02/2022

Making hunger one less challenge to deal with

Ann Jackson

There is no good time for a cancer diagnosis. But for families already struggling with multiple challenges, including having enough food to eat, a cancer diagnosis can tip a precarious situation into a full-blown crisis.

Five years ago, Ann Jackson, DPT, MPH, saw this firsthand as she sought treatment for breast cancer at the University of Chicago Medicine’s Infusion Therapy Suite. Jackson, then a first-year fellow at the MacLean Center for Clinical Medical Ethics, was struck by the extreme practices some of her fellow patients adopted, such as skipping meals to pay for parking.

“I was wanting there to be kindness and hope for everyone, but I recognized there were gaps and that people had needs that were going unmet,” said Jackson, a physical therapist and member of the Cancer Services Patient & Family Advisory Council at the University of Chicago Medicine Comprehensive Cancer Center.

After attending a lecture by Stacy Tessler Lindau, MD, MAPP about UChicago Medicine’s Feed1st Program and the first Comer Children’s Hospital pantry — started by Pritzker School of Medicine students, faculty and staff in 2010 — Jackson decided to start a Feed1st food pantry for cancer patients.

Click here to read the full story. 

This story was first published by UChicago Medicine. 

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