Astoria cancer center to reopen after COVID-19 closing
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TIMESLEDGER | 12 QNS.COM | AUG. 14-20, 2020
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focused its efforts on
aiding its community
with mental health,
conscious that cancer
survivors and those
currently undergoing
treatment are among
the groups most physically
at risk to COVID-
19 and have a heightened
propensity to
mental illness, such
as clinical depression,
PTSD, anxiety and
complicated grief.
“In response to the
COVID-19 crisis, we
have experienced an increased
demand for professional
mental health
support services, including
our individual
and group counseling.
To meet this demand,
we have increased our
provision of individual
and group telemental
health services. We
have also been offering
an additional weekly
support group, at the request
of — and to meet
the ongoing needs of
— our survivors,” said
Anna Kril, president of
the organization.
The nonprofit’s partners
in these efforts
include Queens Public
Library, International
High School for Health
Sciences and Frank Sinatra
High School.
SHAREing and CAREing
has been offering
workshops and sessions
on anxiety, stress
management, loving
and grieving, according
to Kril.
“Our members
have lost loved ones to
COVID-19, are worried
about family members
on the front lines, have
experienced job loss,
and have to cope with
ongoing, indefinite
self-quarantine and
social isolation. Our
group and individual
counseling include evidence
based interventions
geared to help our
community reduce risk,
isolation, anxiety, depression
and trauma,”
said SHAREing and
CAREing’s Licensed
Clinical Social Worker
Merryl Reichbach.
“Many in our community
will continue
to face unemployment
and financial hardship
AND will continue
to need the help that
SHAREing & CAREing
can provide,” Kril
said. “With the support
of the NYC Council and
private funders, my
staff and I are committed
to working with our
local hospitals – NYC
Health + Hospitals/
Elmhurst, NYC Health
+ Hospitals/Queens
and its Queens Cancer
Center and Mount Sinai
Queens — and our
other partners to provide
programming and
services during these
uncertain, and changing,
times.”
If you or someone
you know is in need of
support, free or lowcost
cancer screening
and/or other cancerrelated
services, you
can contact SHAREing
and CAREing Inc. at
718-777-5766.
BY JASMINE PALMA
An Astoria cancer
center is reopening its
doors after being shut
down to slow the spread
of COVID-19 for the past
several months.
SHAREing and CAREing
Inc. announced
it has initiated steps toward
reopening its Astoria
office on Ditmars
Boulevard.
The grassroots nonprofit
was founded in
1994 by breast cancer
survivors to address
the lack of breast cancer
services available
to women in Queens.
They have since expanded
their services
to give both women and
men cancer education,
support, advocacy and
outreach with special
attention to minority
groups that are underinsured
or lack insurance
entirely.
Despite its physical
closure in conforming
with Gov. Andrew Cuomo’s
executive order,
the nonprofit continued
to provide their services
to cancer survivors,
their families and
caregivers via website,
email and social media/
online platforms.
Now as NYC carries
out phase four of
reopening, SHAREing
and CAREing has
resumed phone assistance.
“I will be staffing
the office from 8:30
a.m. to 3:30 p.m., Monday
through Friday,
offering assistance in
English and Spanish,”
said SHAREing and
CAREing’s bilingual
Spanish navigator Rosa
Sarmiento.
As of late, SHAREing
and CAREing has
SHAREing & CAREing former Patient Navigator Anna
Zabniak, President & Founder Anna Kril, Bilingual
Spanish Navigator Rosa Sarmiento, and Mercedes
Pinzino, longtime SHAREing & CAREing volunteer.
Photo courtesy of SHAREing & CAREing
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