By Thelma D. Jones and Lisa Simms Booth
Are you interested in learning more about the power of cancer programs, patient navigation and the impact of connection on healing? If so, join the Thelma D. Jones Breast Cancer Fund (TDJBCF) as they welcome “An Evening with Smith Center for Healing and the Arts” on Wednesday, July 20 at 6:30 p.m. via Zoom and the TDJBCF Facebook page for the fourth consecutive year. Smith Center for Healing and the Arts, a nonprofit health, education, and arts organization located in the heart of U Street NW, pioneered and fostered patient navigation in the Washington, DC region and has become a leader in the nationwide movement to promote the use of the arts in healing. TDJBCF Founder Thelma D. Jones was trained as a patient navigator in integrative care at Smith Center more than a decade ago and has enjoyed the benefits of the arts and the power of connection in healing during two residential Smith Center retreats. Smith Center’s mission is to develop and promote healing practices that explore physical, emotional, and mental wellness and lead to life-affirming changes.
Back by popular demand, the support group meeting will be emceed by Lisa Simms Booth, Executive Director of the Smith Center for Healing and the Arts. Booth, a former Senior Director of Patient and Public Engagement at the Biden Cancer Initiative (BCI) who served as the staff lead for BCI’s Patient Navigation Working Group, will lead the evening through a brief overview of Smith Center and will explore the history of patient navigation, Smith Center’s work in the field past, present and future and the importance of connection to healing.
Simms Booth will be joined by Smith Center Senior Advisor Dr. Julia Rowland and Young Adult and Psychosocial Support Programs Director Erin Price. “We are thrilled to join our dear friend Thelma D. Jones and the Thelma D. Jones Breast Cancer Fund at the July meeting to celebrate our continued relationship,” said Simms Booth.
Founded in 1996, Smith Center’s philosophy on healing is a natural and often deeply personal process that can encompass the entire spectrum of our lives – physical, mental, emotional, and even spiritual. The Smith Center believes that every individual possesses the innate powers to heal within. So mark your calendar and join us for another exciting evening in learning more about cancer programs, patient navigation and arts and healing – physically, mentally, emotionally and spiritually – something we can all benefit from after experiencing the shutdown of our nation from the pandemic.