Symptom management is a critical, yet often overlooked, facet of the cancer experience. This reality, along with the extraordinary care and revolutionary science taking place at Dana-Farber Cancer Institute, inspired the Fireman Family to make a generous gift of $2.5 million from the Paul and Phyllis Fireman Charitable Foundation. This gift to the Institute will support the development of a symptom management platform that will greatly ease the burden of cancer and its treatment for patients. By leveraging Dana-Farber’s existing knowledge and resources in this area, cross-team experts will create a next-generation, evidence-based symptom management solution that will use a patient-centric model to enhance clinicians’ ability to preemptively address and effectively treat the symptoms of cancer.
The Fireman Family is committed to helping Dana-Farber improve patient care. Nausea, pain, and other symptoms can be debilitating for patients, increasing emergency room visits and hospital stays, and driving higher costs and lower quality of life. Dana-Farber’s symptom management platform will address these issues by combining expert guidance with technology-based protocols to support patients, clinical teams, and caregivers through the cancer journey. Ultimately, it will improve outcomes and transform the care experience for patients.
Paul and Phyllis Fireman have supported Dana-Farber for many years, along with their children, Stephanie and Adam Rogers, Lori and Denny Baldwin, and Dan and Penny Fireman. Past gifts from the family have gone to the Leonard P. Zakim Center for Integrative Therapies and Healthy Living; research in lung cancer, leukemia, and sarcoma; and many more exceptional projects. Most recently, they were inspired to work with Dana-Farber President and CEO Laurie H. Glimcher, MD, and Dana-Farber staff to drive this project forward.
“Our family is honored to be able to support one of the key pillars of Dana-Farber’s mission—patient care,” said Paul and Phyllis Fireman. “We hope this gift will lead to novel approaches to care that will improve the quality of life for patients.”
Adam Reich, vice president of Business Initiatives and Alliances; Michael Hassett, MD, MPH, chief quality officer; and Terri Jabaley, PhD, RN, OCN, clinical inquiry specialist for the Phyllis F. Cantor Center for Research in Nursing and Patient Care Services, will work together with patients and care teams to develop the platform, which will be a central place for symptom reporting and tracking, education, and clinical decision support. This tool will give patients more control of their treatment, help doctors and nurses work more efficiently, and ultimately reduce cost of care and unnecessary hospital visits. The Fireman Family is also excited about the unique opportunity of this gift to create lasting impact and funding for Dana-Farber for years to come.
“I am excited and grateful for this wonderful commitment from the Fireman Family,” said Glimcher, who is also the Richard and Susan Smith Professor of Medicine. “This gift will ultimately benefit so many in our patient community at Dana-Farber, and patients with cancer being treated around the world.”