the wellness community; Gilda's Club

Statement from The Wellness Community and Gilda’s Club

The Board of Directors of Gilda’s Club Atlanta is proud to announce their decision to join forces with another organization to immediately begin serving people in our area affected by cancer. The Wellness Community-Atlanta Northside is an existing organization that has offered support, education, and hope to people facing cancer in our area since 1997. While Gilda’s Club-Atlanta will no longer continue in our goal of opening a Gilda’s Club Clubhouse here, we will now join TWC-AN at their facility in order to begin supporting people on a journey with cancer. Together, at The Wellness Community-Atlanta Northside, we will offer:

Our Board of Directors is excited about joining The Wellness Community, as we recognize that we can directly change the lives of everyone who enters our doors. In addition, because most of our Gilda’s Club Board members have accepted positions on The Wellness Community-Atlanta Northside’s Board, we will now have strong input on the programs and practices at TWC, bringing Gilda’s Club’s mission into the fold at TWC.

We hope you will join us in this exciting unification of forces by getting to know The Wellness Community-Atlanta Northside. Take a moment to visit their website at www.thewellnesscommunity-atlanta.org. You will see that each of us who longed to see a Gilda’s Club open in Atlanta now can directly impact the lives of everyone who enters The Wellness Community each day.

NATIONAL MERGER

In addition to Atlanta seeing a combined effort to serve the cancer community, The headquarter offices of The Wellness Community and Gilda’s Club recently made an announcement about the future of these two organizations on a national level. The two national offices are pleased to announce that as of July 1, 2009, we have joined forces to become the largest provider of psychosocial cancer support in North America and will be extending our reach to even more people affected by cancer. Our combined organization will also be the largest employer of psychosocial oncology support professionals, advancing the idea that psychosocial care is as important as medical care in the face of a cancer diagnosis. Both Gilda’s Club and The Wellness Community have grown extensively during our combined 45 year history to make a significant difference for people affected by cancer. Both organizations have also established solid, reliable reputations in the cancer community and share an unwavering commitment to quality, integrity and services based on the best research available to move our respective and complementary agendas forward.

A CLOSELY LINKED HISTORY:

In 1982, The Wellness Community was founded by Dr. Harold Benjamin in Santa Monica, California. Dr. Benjamin created a program of psychosocial support that was widely recognized as a leader in the field.

Benjamin’s colleague, Joanna Bull, encouraged her client, comedian Gilda Radner, to attend The Wellness Community while Gilda was dealing with ovarian cancer. In her book, “It’s Always Something”, Gilda shared extensively about her experiences there.

Gilda and her husband, Gene Wilder, commuted between the two coasts and she often lamented there was nothing like The Wellness Community in the east. After her death, Wilder and his friends Joel Siegel and Mandy Patinkin set out to fulfill Gilda’s wish that “no one should ever face cancer alone”. In 1991 they reached out to Bull, who came to NYC, created the Gilda’s Club program, and opened the first Clubhouse.

Both organizations expanded their local networks and today they are serving hundreds of thousands of people touched by cancer. Also, in 2007 the Institute of Medicine issued a report confirming what Benjamin and Bull always knew: psychosocial support is as essential as medical care when there is a cancer diagnosis, and community-based organizations are best suited to provide this support.

Together Gilda’s Club and The Wellness Community, with more than 45 local affiliates and 80 satellites, are the largest providers of psychosocial support in North America. Together, they are poised to ensure the IOM report becomes reality and that people affected by cancer have access to the highest quality psychosocial support.

For more information, please call The Wellness Community-Atlanta Northside at 404-843-1894.