AnCan and The Marsh (well renown, long-established theater company with a large following in the Bay Area and venues in San Francisco and Oakland) collaborateevery 4th Wednesday of the month for Solo Arts Heal!
Brooklyn-born, Los Angeles-raised rapper/producer Brian RiGHtSiDE’ Smith was diagnosed while in college with metastatic testicular cancer – and later, a reoccurrence of cancer in the brain, which left him with paralysis on his left side – hence the “right side” moniker.
In addition to performing original music, Brian discussed overcoming various health challenges and substance abuse, and his work supporting teens and young adults with cancer by sharing healthy and creative ways to process their emotions.
Watch this inspiring performance here:
To SIGN UP for any of our AnCan Virtual Support group reminders, visit our Contact Us page.
AnCan and The Marsh (well renown, long-established theater company with a large following in the Bay Area and venues in San Francisco and Oakland) collaborateevery 4th Wednesday of the month for Solo Arts Heal!
On June 22, in honor of Pride month, we were happy to have Jesus Guillen join us.
Jesus is Your Singing Advocate and founder of the HIV Long Term Survivors international network. A 37-year HIV long term survivor, Jesus is part of the first generation growing older with HIV, living with chronic pain, but still a very creative individual. The focus of his work during the last years has been on aging, chronic pain, HIV, mental health, coping skills, and cultural awareness, always with the strong background of his personal journey as an immigrant and being a member of the LGBTQI family. He is also an international speaker and a bilingual/bicultural Latino activist.
Watch the performance here:
To SIGN UP for any of our AnCan Virtual Support group reminders, visit our Contact Us page.
Non-Medical switching ….. know what we’re talking about?
In the patient advocacy world, Non-Medical Switching has been a major topic this year.
Non-Medical switching happens when the insurance provider forces a switch to an alternate medication, usually less expensive, to the one your health care provider prescribed. In certain HMO’s, it may actually be your HCP who switches or prescribes a less than optimal drug. AnCan sees this frequently with Kaiser Permanente.
The switched medication frequently may not work as well. For some conditions that can be devastating … for example with mood stabilizers prescribed for mental health care. A recent survey by the Alliance for Mental Heath Care Access (AMHCA) showed that 40% of patients taking medication to maintain stable mental health did worse when switched. Consequnces can be tragic.
In March, I was in Washinton DC to lobby for the American Urology Association. Switching was one of our talking points with Federal legislators. AnCan also partners with the Alliance for Patient Access (AfPA), a parent organization to AMHCA. With Mental Health Awareness Month coming up, they have just published an attention-grabbing report addressing medcial switching. Read it at https://instituteforpatientaccess.org/non-medical-switching-pushes-patients-to-the-brink/
AnCan continues to advocate on behalf of all our patients. We take Mental Health programming very seriously and now offer 5 related programs:
AnCan and The Marsh (well renown, long-established theater company with a large following in the Bay Area and venues in San Francisco and Oakland) collaborateevery 4th Wednesday of the month for Solo Arts Heal!
On April 27th, we had the pleasure of hosting Solo Arts Heal with special guest, Elizabeth Jameson!
Elizabeth Jameson is an artist, writer, and health advocate. Since her diagnosis of multiple sclerosis, she has used medical technology to create art as a way of taking ownership of her disease. She transformed her unsettling, clinical black-and-white brain scans into work that invites others to be curious and contemplate
the beauty of the brain, and encourages conversations about what it means to live in an imperfect body. Her use of strong, vibrant colors is a way to celebrate and honor the journey of what she has had to confront—the disease of her brain—and to challenge others to question what it means to be imperfect, which is part of the universal human experience.
As her disease has progressed, her practice has evolved. She now concentrates on writing and publishing essays about illness and disability. In 2021, she created MS Confidential, a monthly web series that provides a safe space for raw and informal discussions about the chaos of daily life for people living with multiple sclerosis.
Watch the performance here:
To SIGN UP for any of our AnCan Virtual Support group reminders, visit our Contact Us page.
AnCan and The Marsh (well renown, long-established theater company with a large following in the Bay Area and venues in San Francisco and Oakland) collaborateevery 4th Wednesday of the month for Solo Arts Heal!
On March 23rd, we had the pleasure of hosting Solo Arts Heal with special guest, Twinkle Burke!
Twinkle is an Actor/Writer from New York City. She is equally comfortable on stage and screen and writing in different genres and styles. Her work has been performed with TMI Project, The Actors Studio Playwright and Directors Workshop, Lift Every Voice: Black Women Speak Festival, and The Drawing Board to name a few. She can be seen in various independent films and on TV in various shows, including Season 3 of HBO’s SUCCESSION. She plays “Eugenia” in Colin West’s latest film, LINOLEUM premiering at the SXSW Festival in March of 2022. She is an avid proponent for using the arts to learn, heal, and grow.
In this SAH, Twinkle performed a piece telling how she used her craft of acting to sustain herself while miscarrying her child.
Watch the performance here:
To SIGN UP for any of our AnCan Virtual Support group reminders, visit our Contact Us page.
AnCan and The Marsh (well renown, long-established theater company with a large following in the Bay Area and venues in San Francisco and Oakland) collaborateevery 4th Wednesday of the month for Solo Arts Heal!
On February 23rd, we had the pleasure of hosting Solo Arts Heal with special guest, Barbara Dyskant!
Barbara is an energetic and versatile pianist, composer, singer-songwriter, and writer who strives to use her art to warmly evoke empathy with her audience and empower them to move forward in their lives, as well as to entertain and delight. She also was caregiver for both her daughter and her husband’s cancers.
Barbara’s other passions include hiking, dancing, camping, adventuring, laughter, meeting people, reading about science, preserving the environment, good conversations, and learning from everyone. And using what she learns from her experiences and those of others to improve lives.
Watch the performance here:
To SIGN UP for any of our AnCan Virtual Support group reminders, visit our Contact Us page.
In the patient advocacy world, Non-Medical Switching has been a major topic this year.
