General Info

In the field of cancer, many of the inroads to increasing language-specific psychosocial support in the San Francisco Bay Area can be directly attributed to Ca rculo de Vida ( Circle of Life ). Founded in 1992, Ca rculo de Vida ( CDV ) was the first successful Spanish-language support group program in the greater Bay Area, and has since been a model for groups in Union City, Pittsburg, and Watsonville. Founded on the principles of familismo ( the importance of the family unit ) and personalismo ( the importance of warm interpersonal relationships ) Ca rculo de Vida provides an invaluable and unparalleled service to Latinos living with cancer and their loved ones - most of them immigrants, low-income, and without health insurance - as they navigate a frightening illness and an increasingly complex medical system. Ca rculo's experienced staff help translate for the patient and physician at the time of diagnosis, offer in-hospital and in-home support during surgery and treatment, provide a wide range of Spanish-language support groups for the patients and their children, as well as case management, resource referrals and in-home support for the terminally ill. CDV also offers many support groups that provide a safe place in which individuals with similar diagnoses can assist one another with mutual support, understanding and encouragement, and provide an extended family unit to rely on when the cancer or its treatment reaches a critical stage. When participants refer to the group as their "familia", they do so with the knowledge that support can always be found there. Whether sitting with a patient as she hears the details of her diagnosis, taking care of a young mother's child while she attends her chemotherapy treatments, or bringing someone a meal because she is too ill to cook, the group members and staff care for each other like family. CDVs success has in part come as a result of building strong partnerships with organizations throughout the Bay Area such as San Francisco General Hospital, San Francisco American Cancer Society, Breast Cancer Action, Lifelines, Latina Breast Cancer Agency, and the San Francisco Department of Public Health.