Preparing for Virtual Care: How caregivers can help
Voice-over (VO): Virtual cancer care appointments can be a great way to connect with a healthcare team – and as a caregiver, you can play an important role in virtual care.
[A patient and their caregiver walk on screen from the right. They are preparing for a virtual cancer care appointment. An oversized laptop slides in from the left. Members of the healthcare team wave from the screen of the laptop. The patient waves back. Then the laptop fades out.]
VO: A caregiver provides physical and emotional care to someone with cancer.
[The patient and their caregiver turn and walk to the right side of the screen. An open door appears and they walk through it.]
VO: Some caregivers aren't paid to do this work, such as a partner or spouse, parent, adult child or close friend of the person with cancer. Others are trained and paid to provide care, such as a personal support worker.
[A new scene opens in the kitchen. The patient and their caregiver meet in the middle of the screen. The caregiver is holding a bag of groceries. They place their free hand on the patient’s shoulder supportively. Then the patient and caregiver shift slightly to the left as a personal support worker (PSW) walks in from the right. The PSW is wearing purple scrubs and carrying a clipboard. The scene ends.]
VO: If the person you’re caring for has invited you to join them in a virtual care appointment, you can help them prepare ahead of time.
[The patient and their caregiver walk through a door to go outside. The patient is carrying their smartphone. They sit down at a picnic table outside.]
VO: For example, you might write down questions or concerns they have, so that they remember to discuss them. Or you might help them make lists of the medicines they’re taking or the symptoms they’re experiencing, so that they have this information handy during the appointment.
[The caregiver holds a piece of paper with questions written on it as a bubble with a question mark appears above them. To the left, another bubble appears with medicine bottles in it. To the right, a bubble appears showing the outline of the patient’s body with red circles suggesting the patient’s pain or symptoms.]
VO: You might also be able to help set up or troubleshoot technology if the person you’re caring for needs help using certain devices or programs.
[The bubbles and the paper the caregiver was holding disappear. The patient’s phone screen turns red. They lift the phone and look worried as the reception bars drop from full to empty, indicating no service. After the caregiver makes an adjustment to the phone, the screen turns back to green and the reception bars fill to full service again. The patient smiles and looks relieved. The scene ends.]
VO: And finally, you can help them stay connected to their healthcare team if virtual care isn’t an option.
[The caregiver slides in from the left on a white background. There are 2 bubbles in front of them – one showing the patient and the other showing members of the healthcare team. An orange arrow connects the patient bubble to the healthcare team bubble.]
VO: This could include scheduling in-person appointments or driving them to the hospital or clinic.
[The orange arrow disappears and the 2 bubbles move slightly to the right. The caregiver raises their phone, which has a green screen and sound bars radiating from it to suggest they’re making a call. At the same time, a new bubble appears showing a calendar with an appointment booked. Then a fourth bubble appears showing a hospital or clinic.]
VO: Caring for someone with cancer isn’t easy. You’re doing important work that makes a real difference – but you might need some support, too.
[The caregiver lowers their phone and all of the bubbles move slightly to come closer together. Around them, more bubbles pop up to show the caregiver’s additional responsibilities: a broom and dustpan to represent cleaning, medicine bottles to represent keeping track of the patient’s medicines, a question mark to represent the questions they have, groceries to indicate grocery shopping for the patient and cutlery to indicate cooking or meal planning. The caregiver raises their hand to their face and looks worried as their responsibilities pile up.]
VO: You’re not alone. Reach out to a friend or family member for help, or ask the healthcare team about resources for caregivers.
[All of the bubbles disappear and the caregiver lowers their hand. A family member, a doctor and a PSW walk in from the right. The doctor offers the caregiver a piece of paper with a list of resources from the Canadian Cancer Society. The scene ends.]
VO: The Canadian Cancer Society is also here to help. Visit cancer.ca or call us at 1-888-939-3333. You can also visit our virtual care resource hub at cancer.ca/virtualcare.
[The Canadian Cancer Society’s name, logo, phone number and website address appear in the centre of the screen. The Merck logo appears below with the following text: “Made possible through the support of Merck Canada Inc. The opinions expressed are those of its authors and do not necessarily reflect the views and opinions of Merck Canada Inc.” As the voice-over mentions the virtual care information hub, the URL cancer.ca/virtualcare appears on the screen.]
