In this interview, we meet Anne Blondeel of SIOP Europe. Anne is leading implementation of the Survivorship Passport, which will be used in the PanCareFollowUp Care intervention study in Italy.

 

Please introduce yourself and share with us why you joined PanCareFollowUp.

My name is Anne Blondeel and I‘m a Project and Education Coordinator at SIOP Europe. I‘ve joined PanCareFollowUp because one of my tasks has been to support the implementation of the Survivorship Passport.

Explain your work in PanCareFollowUp shortly.

The project is divided into work packages (WP). SIOP Europe is leader of WP4, which addresses the implementation of the Survivorship Passport. Together with the WP partners, we have extended the existing SurPass IT tool, we are working on the recommendation brochures in collaboration with WP1 and the PanCare PLAIN group, and will look into the feasibility of developing a mobile app.

Why do you think PanCareFollowUp is an important project?

Thanks to better cancer treatments, there are now more and more childhood and adolescent cancer survivors in Europe. This group of survivors deserves the best possible survivorship care in order to improve their quality of life, despite the long-term effects of their cancer treatment. PanCareFollowUp addresses the important task of looking at how to best deliver this survivorship care to survivors.

What makes this project unique for you?

The large and varied group of stakeholders, from clinical partners to parent and patient organizations, professional societies and networks working together to make significant and lasting improvements in the quality of life for survivors of childhood and adolescent cancer is unique and of the utmost importance!

What do you hope this project will achieve?

I hope that PanCareFollowUp will deliver materials and a clear guide to delivering survivorship care, which will be able to be implemented in countries across Europe.

What’s the biggest challenge of your WP?

Together with WP1 and the PanCare PLAIN group, we are developing plain language recommendation brochures for each of the 48 guidelines that have been finalized within the project. This is a huge and challenging task!

What’s the most fun thing in your WP?

The best part of working on this project is the collaboration with our WP partners, some of whom we‘ve known for many years!

What’s the most important benefit of your WP for survivors?

Within WP4, survivors will benefit from receiving their Survivorship Passport, giving them instant access to their treatment history and recommendations for follow-up.

What else do we need to know about your WP or is there anything else you want to share?

Visit SIOP Europe‘s website at www.siope.eu to see all of our activities and to get involved!