The Mesothelioma Center - What is a patient advocate?

Patient Advocate Manager Joe Lahav describes what he and his team does for patients and their loved ones as patient advocates here at The Mesothelioma Center...

Typically when people get an asbestos related disease specifically an asbestos related cancer, they're overwhelmed. Asbestos diseases in general are pretty rare but mesothelioma which is the most dangerous form of asbestos cancer is exceedingly rare. There's only about 3,000 cases diagnosed every year. Consequently there's not a whole lot of understanding about them. So when people get these types of diagnoses they don't really understand what to do, they feel overwhelmed, the prognosis can be somewhat grim, and they get very scared. They don't really have a place to turn. That's kind of where we step in. We want to help people understand that there is hope out there, that there's all kinds of treatment options, there's good treatment facilities, although they're spread out throughout the country we make sure people get to the right ones, that people can afford the treatment that's necessary, and we help people understand generally how to get through it.