IU Health La Porte and Starke hospitals proudly announced this week that they were recently awarded with the STAR Program Certification, a certification that qualifies the two hospitals to offer the STAR Program, a state-of-the-art cancer rehabilitation program to help survivors recover from the side effects and aftereffects of treatments.
STAR Program Certification is an offering of the Massachusetts-based healthcare company Oncology Rehab Partners and provides hospitals and cancer centers with the tools needed to quickly and effectively implement evidence-based cancer rehabilitation services for survivors suffering from post-treatment symptoms such as pain, fatigue, weakness, and emotional distress.
Oncology Rehab Partners’ founder Julie Silver, MD, said the certifications highlights the efforts the hospitals have made in prioritizing survivorship. Certified Healing Touch Practitioner Christina Dougherty said when she completed her STAR Program training that the information she learned will allow her to offer better care to cancer patients in all stages of healing.
Most of the services offered by the STAR Program are covered by health insurance and are designed to rehabilitate survivors of all forms and stages of cancer. The program uses a multidisciplinary clinical approach, whereby a team of experts—rehabilitation medicine physicians, physical and occupational therapists, speech pathologists, dieticians, medical social workers, and nurse practitioners—works with each patient on a personalized rehabilitation plan to increase strength and energy, alleviate pain, and improve daily function and well-being.
