Going the Distance:
"For Life"
Cancer is the second leading cause of death on the Navajo Nation and the death rate continues to rise.
The absence of local cancer treatment centers often causes our patients to be diagnosed until they are in advanced and incurable stages.
Cancer patients living on the Navajo Nation face multiple challenges in receiving cancer treatment that they critically need. The nearest cancer treatment center is over 80 miles away (one way), there may be no interpreters that speak our native language at those facilities, and the financial burden of care and travel is great. Some patients must travel the same distance as Washington, DC to New York City just for one day of cancer treatment. In addition, most patients live in communities where unemployment rates are over 40% and household incomes are below the national poverty level.
Eventually, some patients decide to forego cancer treatment completely as these barriers feel impossible.
Why Oncology?
The Navajo Nation has a patient population of 173,000.
Data shows:
Phoenix has 1 oncologist per 16,512 people
Flagstaff has 1 oncologist per 13,373 people
Navajo Nation has 1 oncologist per 173,000 people
TCRHCC and its partners knew this had to change!
Now There’s Hope on the Navajo Nation
Tuba City, AZ – …the Navajo Nation marked a milestone moment: the opening of the first full-time cancer care center on an American Indian reservation. The culturally adapted cancer care center at TCRHCC will provide oncology services to the Navajo, Hopi, and San Juan Southern Paiutes.
The Navajo Nation has its first cancer care at the Tuba City Regional Health Care Specialty Care Center.
Video: Navajo Nation Gets Access to Cancer Care with New Clinic
The Navajo Nation has it’s first cancer care at the Tuba City Regional Health Care Specialty Care Center. Two oncologists work full time at the center.
TCRHCC Partners with Cancer Support Community
TCRHCC and its partners aimed to improve access to cancer transfer among the Navajo Nation by opening the first Cancer Center. We are grateful to our partners:
- Cancer Support Community
- Barbara Bradley Baekgaard Family Foundation
- Eisai Oncology
- Pfizer Oncology
- Navajo Hopi Health Foundation
TUBA CITY, AZ – “…[Navajo Nation] President Nez said, working together through strong partnerships is key to providing these much needed services for our Dine’ people who require cancer treatment. On behalf of the Nez-Lizer Administration, we thank everyone for supporting this initiative. (May 23, 2019)
Our New Cancer Treatment Center Can Provide:
- Early detection, treatment, and management of cancer
- Culturally appropriate psychosocial services, including distressing screening, family counseling, education, and nutritional guide and hope.
- Financial assistance in the form of housing and travel support during treatment
A Local Cancer Center Means:
- Early recognition and management of cancer therapy-related toxicities
- Better follow up, surveillance and survivorship
- Less travel for patients and their families
- More accurate numbers and statistics
Specialty Care Center would not be complete without our Supporters
Dr. Dalichow and Dr. DiMento, TCRHCC Oncologists, are huge supporters of the Specialty Care Center.
Your support is needed.
Please consider investing in the cancer center at TCRHCC and becoming a partner in addressing the health disparities of American Indians.
Foundation Canyon House
Remembering Leona Canyon
One of the Foundation’s most committed volunteers, Leona Canyon, tragically succumbed to cancer in March 2016. In remembrance of Leona, we called our Foundation building the Canyon House.
Leona’s passing sheds light on how common cancer is on the reservation and that many of the people cannot seek treatment due to financial restraint and the distance to an adequate cancer facility. By fate, she’s managed to fuel the beginning of the first oncology center on the Navajo reservation.
Below is a link to an open letter from Leona’s daughter, Brooke Canyon. In it, she shares the vulnerability she and her family faced when Leona was diagnosed…
How the NHHF Canyon House Came to Be: The Leona Canyon Story
You might be asking, why Oncology services on the Reservation in Northern Arizona? Please allow me to share my experience with you. I walked into the Flagstaff ER expecting to find my mother and best
Foundation Canyon House is our Thrift Store
The Foundation Thrift Store had its grand opening on October 15, 2016. This house was fully restored by Mrs. Barbara Peters, the former NHHF Executive Director, and volunteers and other staff. The restored house was to be home for a quaint little thrift shop. Legendary Native actor, Gary Farmer, was invited as the guest of honor at the grand opening and he gave his endorsement to the Foundation’s mission in establishing an oncology center on the Navajo reservation. We are grateful for his visit and his support.
Our Thrift Store accepts gently used items such as clothes, toys, jackets, shoes, purses, DVD’s, books, movies, small kitchenware, and small furniture such as end tables, chairs, lamps, bookcases. Please call (928) 283-2797 to arrange for a pickup or drop of items at the Foundation house. All donations are tax-deductible. If you need a tax document, please call the number above in advance.
The Foundation Thrift Store is located at the Canyon House on Main Street, across the TC Boarding School, in Tuba City, AZ.
