BARRY WILLIAMS /Special

Cancer survivors Brenda Gross, Jeff Saunders and Laura McMahon (from left) reach for the sky during a yoga class led by instructor Jackie Ramsdale.

When patients are diagnosed with cancer, it affects not only their lives profoundly but their families' lives. Cancer Wellness, a new oncology initiative at Piedmont Hospital in Atlanta, is creating programs to bring comfort, support and nurture to patients and their families as they journey through treatment and recovery. Support groups and classes in yoga, exercise, nutrition, cooking, expressive arts and meditation are just some of the programs that are being offered free to the community.

"It's an attempt to treat the whole person, and I'm thrilled that Piedmont wants to offer these services and asked me to help develop them," said Carolyn Helmer, LCSW, program manager.

One of the programs, PINK, is a 12-week session for women completing treatment for breast cancer. It includes exercise class twice a week, nutrition consultations, education and stress reduction through guided imagery and yoga classes.

"People hear 'mindfulness training,' and they think it's some kind of alternative therapy. It's not," Helmer said. "It's a complement to traditional medical treatments, and Piedmont has brought these programs on board because they consider them essential. Research has shown that these practices benefit patients."

Activities that reduce stress, for example, enhance the immune system and promote healing.

Helmer comes to Piedmont with nine years of experience as director of The Wellness Community in Atlanta, which provides free psychological and social support to cancer patients and their families.

"I didn't know anything about cancer when I started, but I knew a lot about processing grief and loss from my private practice. Survivors and their families have taught me so much," she said.

Helmer has seen wellness programs help diminish the stigma of having cancer and the misconception that the disease is a death sentence. Classes such as "Living Your Best Life Today: Journey Through Recovery to Wholeness" teach recovering patients how to live more fully, which builds hope and strengthens the will to live.

The Piedmont Hospital Foundation, individual donors and grants fund the growing program.

"Right now we are somewhat limited by space, but we're adding a 'Writing for Recovery' journaling class, a support group for families in distress and other new classes this fall," Helmer said.

In March, Cancer Wellness will have its own space in Piedmont's new medical office building. The program will add a reading resource room and library, a café for classes in healthy cooking, a group meeting room, an arts expression room and more space for exercise classes.

"This program is a collaboration of people across the hospital, and there are such wellsprings of energy and enthusiasm here at Piedmont," Helmer said.

From past experience, Helmer knows that when you commit to wellness programs and open the door, people come.

"The growth is organic. People bring their circle into your circle, and it becomes one big extended family," she said. "Next year, we're hoping to have some services in our hospitals in Fayette [County] and Jasper. The more people we can reach, the better."