our impact

Respite makes a difference

We believe that a cancer diagnosis affects the cancer patient, the caregiver and the family members in complex ways. Our hope for our patients and caregivers is that while on respite, they laugh a little louder, hug a little more and recognize that love defines their life story, not cancer.  Our program is structured to effectuate meaningful change following a model for family health. This model includes family, mental, physical, psychosocial, emotional, spiritual and financial health. Learn more about how our program improves these health outcomes here.

We strive to create a meaningful experience for each recipient and ask our patients and nominators to complete pre and post respite outcome measures. We invite you to view the results below, specific to Travel Respites at Woodloch Resort! View the full outcome presentation here.

With the positive results from our evidence-based respite program, FPS aims to change the continuum of care for patients in our demographics as every family can benefit from respite during a cancer journey.

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Hundreds of our nominators continually report outcome data to For Pete’s Sake to measure impact. 100% of our nominators report improvement in patients’ and the families’ ability to cope with cancer. Furthermore, oncology professionals themselves report renewed strength and stamina in the clinical setting. Here is the increase, on average:

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Our Research Project

FPS has modeled its program with a focus on the overall concept of coping with cancer by the entire family unit, including patient, caregiver and often, young children. As part of our continuum of care, we inspire young families to look for and experience everyday moments of respite together. FPS developed our evidence-based program model with assistance from Dr. Natalie Hamrick and Dr. Ruth McCorkle.

Studying qualitative and quantitative data routinely obtained by FPS staff following a family respite, Dr. Hamrick identified four common themes associated with a break from cancer, and we embarked upon a 5 year research project to further understand these themes:

1) Relationship Quality Among Family Members (includes spouses and children of varying ages)
2) Work and Life Endurance/ Renewed Stamina
3) Patient Treatment Compliance and
4) Joy/Mental Break.

Our respite data and outcomes have been recognized by the American Society of Clinical Oncology (ASCO) and published in an abstract, titled Individual and Community Respite as Supportive care for Adult Cancer Patients, their caregivers and their families.

FPS has presented twice at the American Psychosocial Oncology Society (APOS) national conference on the therapeutic benefit of respite. This past spring, Dr. Natalie Hamrick presented five years of research data at the APOS 19th Annual Conference in a presentation titled, Cancer Families’ Intentional Respite Experience, Family Dynamics and Positive Outlook. A link to Natalie’s presentation can be found here.

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Patient Demographic Matrix

For Pete’s Sake tracks information about all Patients in its Patient Demographic Matrix. This information includes: ethnicity, gender, age category, county, state, cancer type and treatment center. View the Patient Demographic Matrix to see a complete breakdown of our program, the number served and the specifics of each patient.

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Celebrating 20 Years 

FPS celebrated our 20 year anniversary in 2020 and created this beautiful testimonial video to share the impact our community makes on thousands of families!