MedStar Health Blog

Calming Unsettled Waters

Cancer survivors can find themselves in a ghostly (and ghastly) space that is not quite grounded in the reality of yesterday or the hard presence of today. Even for long-term survivors, the anticipation of the “other shoe” dropping is an ever-present hurdle to glide or climb over, depending on the day – or the hour.

Dozens of cancer survivors of all lengths and strengths put worry and uncertainty on hold for a few hours July 5 at MedStar Washington Hospital Center’s joyful kickoff of PaintFest® America, a 50-day event sponsored by The Foundation for Hospital Art to reach families, patients, and staff of cancer facilities through artwork. To view photos from the event, please click here.

The concept is deceptively simple and calming: dip the slim paintbrush in the miniature paint bottle that matches the pre-drawn, color-coded designs on canvas stretched over square wooden frames, and let your mind find its safe place.

A Welcome Distraction 

Beverly Pollard, of Northeast Washington, a two-year survivor of breast cancer, found PaintFest® a welcome distraction from a friend’s breast cancer surgery, which was taking place at the Hospital Center, while she waited and painted.

As she carefully placed long gold strokes on the canvas depicting a mountain scene, Ms. Pollard explained she was diagnosed with breast cancer during a mammogram the day she returned from a mission trip to Africa. After her diagnosis, the mother of four foster children said, “I asked God to show me a purpose. But, you have to be careful about what you ask God to use you for! He asked me to be an encourager.” She smiled, gratefully. One of her great joys in life is to help friends with cancer find their purpose.

Upper Marlboro resident John Belk took time off from work and made the trip simply to give thanks and “give back” a measure of the encouragement he received during his 44 radiation treatments and six months of hormone therapy for prostate cancer. Clad in the thin white plastic protective apron, he spent the better part of an hour in quiet meditation, deliberately painting inside the lines of the Golden Gate Bridge.

Family members are cancer survivors, too. Regina Zellars of Clinton, Md., was most grateful for the space to calm her mind, as her 26-year-old daughter was taking chemotherapy for mycosis fungoides, a form of T-cell lymphoma. “It’s therapy for me,” Ms. Zellars said, smiling as she bent over a square of canvas featuring tropical fish. “I am so happy to see you all out here. You need to get away in your mind sometimes.”

Survivorship has been an interesting and creative place for artist Anna U Davis. Born in Sweden, the 41-year-old District resident was diagnosed with stage 2 multifocal invasive breast cancer at age 37. Her art has been an important outlet for her emotional well being. She began drawing a journal, a series of works depicting her journey.

“It was difficult to go back and re-live it,” she said of the project. “The fear gets less, but there are moments….”  Ms. Davis has partnered with her husband Peter on the project. He is creating raised wood cuttings from her artwork.

A History of Helping

For more than 30 years, The Foundation for Hospital Art has been dedicated to “softening the hospital environment with colorful paintings, wall murals and ceiling tiles,” according to Scott Feight, executive director of the foundation. The 48 canvases will create eight murals that will be sent to hospitals in the D.C. area and around the country.

Have any questions?

We are here to help! If you have any questions about cancer care at MedStar Washington Hospital Center call 202-877-3627. and you can view our PaintFest® America photo album HERE.

Expanded access is the process by which investigational treatment options are made available to patients with serious and/or life-threatening diseases or conditions who lack therapeutic alternatives. These guidances provide greater clarity about the expanded access process and will allow healthcare providers to more easily navigate the expanded access process and thus enable patients who qualify to access potentially life-saving medications ore readily.

The first guidance, “Individual Patient Expanded Access Applications: Form FDA 3926,” describes the process for a licensed physician to request use of an investigational drug to treat an individual patient who has no other treatment options.

The second guidance, “Expanded Access to Investigational Drugs for Treatment Use – Questions and Answers,” explores frequently asked questions related to the implementation of the FDA regulations on expanded access to investigational drugs.

The third guidance, “Charging for Investigational Drugs Under an IND – Questions and Answers,” addresses questions related to the charging for investigational drugs under an IND in the context of clinical trials or expanded access for treatment use.

Patient and Physician fact sheets have been developed by the FDA and can be found on their website. The FDA will host a webinar on July 12 at 1:00 pm to explain the expanded access process and the new Individual Patient Expanded Access Application.

MedStar Health Research Institute's core blood and biomarker research laboratory, the Penn Medical Laboratory, has been renamed the Biomarker, Biochemistry and Biorepository Core (B3 Core). The B3 Core has more than 20 years of experience providing scientific, laboratory, and biorepository services for clinical studies, trials, and epidemiologic investigations sponsored by the National Institutes of Health (NIH), other federal agencies, foundations, and pharmaceutical sponsors.

Originally, the lab was located on Pennsylvania Avenue. It moved to the space behind the Hyman Building at MedStar Washington Hospital Center for a time before it was relocated to its current home, University Town Center. Jason Umans, MD, PhD, scientific director of the B3 Core, said of the renaming that, “we thought that our name should be descriptive and, growing out of a vision of our core services developed over the years, we embraced our three key roles in biomarker measurement, biochemistry, and safeguarding a large and growing biorepository.” The historical attachment to the name denied “our central mission as a core service in MHRI,” said Dr. Umans.

The B3 Core is expansive in the resources it provides to the many studies it supports, including research in diabetes, pregnancy, oncology and cardiovascular disease. The bulk of the research supported centers on racial and ethnic minority populations. The B3 Core also has collaborative agreements with university and hospital research labs across the nation to support a wider range of research.

In addition to a large pool of dedicated PRN staff, including Min Tun, Xia Liu, and Bassey Effiok, and Dr. Umans, B3 Core is staffed by Jianhui Zhu, MD, PhD, technical director and AC Green, research technician and supported by administrative manager Matthew Hoffman and executive director Becky Montalvo. For more information about the B3 Core, contact research@medstar.net.