Hope returns as Cancer Resource Center reopens
Adrik Vargas
EL CENTRO, Calif. (KYMA, KECY) – When the Cancer Resource Center of the Desert closed earlier this year, many cancer patients in Imperial County felt lost.
Now, thanks to community support and new technology, the El Centro nonprofit is open again.
“We want to, just reassure people that were available and we’re going to work as a team with our patients because we need to work as a team,” said Helen Palomino of CRCD. “We can’t do as much as we used to because we’re small, but we’re still extremely effective.”
Before shutting down, the center partnered with Pear Suite, a case management system that helps track services and handle billing.
Palomino said the system has made reimbursements faster and reporting much easier.
“It’s an amazing experience to see everything that was billable, that it automatically picked up,” she said.
But it wasn’t just technology that made reopening possible.
“We brought together a group of very powerful women who came together with the bandwidth of either health care experience or the ability to fundraise,” said County Supervisor Martha Cardenas-Singh. “It was very important and urgent that cancer fighting patients have the Resource Center as their champion.”
For patients across Imperial County, the reopening means hope and help are once again close to home.