Wellness House

Mission Statement

The mission of Annapolis Wellness Corporation is to provide a club house where cancer patients and their families can meet to gather information and complete the healing process. Specifically, the home would be open during business hours to cancer patients who are undergoing treatment in Anne Arundel County and to their immediate family members whose lives are being affected by the cancer illness. The home would have: a library with books, videos, computer and internet resources on cancer; meeting rooms for both formal and informal seminars; a living area where visitors may relax or visit with others; a kitchen stocked with healthy snacks; a children’s play area with babysitter’s available to watch children during a parents’ cancer treatment; and a garden for rest and relaxation. The home would also provide modest overnight facilities, at no charge, for family members of patients who, because of their cancer illness, are undergoing treatment in Anne Arundel County.

Inspiration

Her 6-year-old daughter gazed up at Dr. Sullivan and asked, "If my Mommy goes in to the hospital again, will she die?" The little girl’s mom very gently took her young daughter in her arms and explained that she was sick, but was getting treatment and would get better. She then turned and asked Dr. Sullivan if she had any other cancer patients with young children who her kids could talk to so they wouldn’t feel so frightened and alone. Unfortunately, Dr. Sullivan had many.

During the visit, the family shared with Dr. Sullivan all that they had endured since the mom had been diagnosed with cancer. Dr. Sullivan began to think about what she could do to offer her patients support and, on a much larger scale, what the Annapolis community could offer cancer patients and their families during the difficult treatment phase.

Cancer patients deal not only with an emotionally and physically exhausting diagnosis, but treatments often last six months or more. Patients are frequently unable to work. Some lose their jobs and insurance coverage as a result of their diagnosis. Patients with young children at home face an even more difficult task of being physically unable to care for their children at the same time that they are struggling to help their children to cope with the fact that mommy or daddy is sick. Often these patients are forced to bring their young children with them to the hospital for daily radiation or weekly chemotherapy treatments, because they have nowhere else for them to go. Dr. Sullivan felt that she had to do more to help these struggling families. She began to research centers in other communities that provide a warm place where cancer patients and their families could go, outside of the medical community, to relax, talk, and play. While many cities and communities offer such needed support, Annapolis unfortunately is not one of them. Annapolis is a wonderful community with a world class medical/cancer center. Dr. Sullivan felt it was important that our community be able to offer its cancer patients and their families a "home away from home" where they could gather strength to help with the healing process.

She enlisted the help of the Annapolis Rotary Club, where she is a member, and together they founded the Annapolis Wellness House. With more than 1.4 million new cancer diagnoses each year and nearly 10 million cancer survivors in the United States, Wellness House will meet the growing need for emotional support for people with cancer and their loved ones in Anne Arundel County.