ICA works diligently investing tremendous efforts and resources to eradicate cancer.  With the ultimate goal of enhancing prevention and early  detection,while  improving  treatment
,hospitalization and rehabilation conditions for patients ,ICA is involved in every aspect of the fight against cancer. Those afflicted with cancer and those who help them fight the disease, stand in the forefront of the fight, determined to regain their health and their lives.

The ICA continues its mission in the fight against cancer by building patient care infrastructures; purchasing essential medical equipment and promoting improved treatment modalities.
In recent years we have established and renovated numerous treatment facilities, including oncology departments in hospitals around the country for adults and children.Working on behalf of patients, the ICA has ensured that oncology treatment units are moved from dark basement venues to sun drenched hospital floors and departments, enabling the patients to look out on peaceful scenery.The ICA also promotes the creation of comprehensive treatment centers, where multidisciplinary medical teams provide optimal care - as well as pediatric oncology units with activity and recreation rooms.

The following list is a glimpse of some of ICA's endless contribution to the fight against cancer: 

  Medical equipment for cancer treatment  is highly sophisticated and extremely expensive.  The ICA helps medical centers in the purchase of advanced and innovative equipment. We also invest in Tele-medicine, enabling physicians in outlying hospitals to consult online with colleagues in major medical centers and in computerized information systems for patient registration and follow-up.

  Improving Cancer Treatment- Constantly seeking ways to improve medical care, the ICA funds professional staff tenures in treatment centers and communities throughout Israel - oncology nurses and social workers and psychologists for adults and children; coordinators for breast cancer care, provided by nurses and social workers serving as patients navigators providing counseling, instruction and support and help women making critical decisions;
colostomy specialist nurses for post-operative colostomy patients; speech therapists for patients following laryngectomy; dieticians, psychologists and more.

  With the goal of improving treatment Modalities, the ICA helps train professionals in all oncology-related fields - making sure to regularly update the relevant professionals, granting scholarships for overseas in-service training, organizing national and educational conferences,seminars and symposia, and purchasing Scientific Literature.

  Improving patient quality of life, the fight against cancer is waged on many fronts and the ICA is active on all of them. Among our most heartfelt endeavors is our work with cancer patients extending a helping hand at every stage of their confrontation with the disease.
ICA initiates and implements rehabilitation and welfare programs provided to patients and their families,improves patients' quality of life and offers a wide range of special activities. ICA also devises and conducts special activities, tailored for children, breast cancer survivors, etc. The ICA's wide range of rehabilitation and welfare programs include supportive home care by trained medical teams, and financial assistance for the families of needy cancer patients.

 Our "Reach to Recovery" program,enlists volunteers who have recovered from breast cancer to support women now confronting the disease, offers speech rehabilitation for laryngectomy patients and rehabilitative support for colostomy patients.

  Another innovative project, "The Heart has no Wrinkles", provides sexual body image and fertility counseling for patients and their partners.

 We hold support groups  in ICA branches throughout Israel.

 We support and train professional staff (social workers, psychologists) that hold support  groups in medical centers.

 We support psycho-oncology teams to operate its telephone support hotline for patients and their families.

  We have played a major role in creating the first hospice for the terminally ill in order to ease their suffering and we operate a home hospice service, enabling patients to remain in warm familiar surroundings, while receiving 24-hour professional attention.

  The ICA's Sir Charles Clore Hostel houses patients from outlying areas receiving ambulatory care at central medical centers,avoiding the need for arduous daily journeys,while providing nursing services, recreational and supportive activities.

  We have also aided in the establishment of ambulatory cancer treatment and hospitalization centers for children, a children's hospice at the Sheba Medical Center and a hostel for young patients and their families at the Rambam Medical Center. Moreover; it supplies pediatric oncology units with activity and recreation rooms.

 ICA operates a home hospice service which enables patients to remain in their warm, familiar surroundings while receiving 24-hour professional care.

 To promote public knowledge ICA offers the public "Tele-Information service" in Hebrew, Arabic and Russian. In addition ICA's cancer resource and info center provides assistance in seeking further knowledge through access to international databases and professional publications. This is Israel's leading source of information in the fight against cancer.

 The implementation of nationwide mammography screening programs is a major achievement of ICA. The mobile mammography unit - Michal was purchased by the ICA so that women in remote areas that have less access and might be less aware (from Arab villages, new immigrant neighborhoods and women from low socio-economic status) can undergo examinations. When emphasis is placed on early detection ICA strives that it will apply to all and therefore the gaps between the different sectors in Israel have decreased immensely over the years.

 ICA's Suzy Rehabilitation & Training Center holds hundreds of seminars per year for professionals and the general public. Through its Wellness Community center, ICA offers support groups, lectures and comprehensive workshops for patients, survivors and their families.

  In the forefront of the fight for patients' rights, the ICA serves as an advocate and "watchdog" for improved health services, keeps the public informed and safeguards its interests. We continually lobby and advocate for increased government health "basket" allocations for new medicines and treatments, and we help patients cut through red tape in their dealings with the National Insurance Institute bureaucracy. ICA initiates and promotes legislation to enhance patients' rights, such as prohibiting discrimination based on genetic testing.

If you want to support ICA's activities & services please contact:

Ms. Vardit Danziger 
Tel: 972-3- 5721629
varditd@cancer.org.il
 

Ms. Tal Dekel
Tel: 972-3- 5721612
tald@cancer.org.il