One small town hospital is determined to stop high gas prices from interfering with essential cancer treatments.
In a Facebook post published on July 6, Mercy Health—Lourdes Hospital—located in Paducah, KY—announced it will be providing cancer patients with gas cards to combat prices at the pump and help ensure safe, reliable transportation to and from treatment appointments.
“In recognition of the burden of rising gas prices, Mercy Health — Lourdes Hospital is helping cancer patients in need by providing them with gas cards,” the post reads.
“It’s vital that cancer patients continue their treatment plans uninterrupted, and the Lourdes Hospital’s cancer care team didn’t want high gas prices to keep patients from their appointments,” it continues. “A grant from the American Cancer Society, coupled with a generous donation from FiveStar and support from Mercy Health Foundation — Lourdes, made the purchase of the gas cards possible.”
Following steady increases throughout 2021 and the beginning of 2022, gas prices have skyrocketed over the last five months.
Despite AAA data which shows that fuel prices have decreased every day for the last three weeks, the national average cost for a gallon of regular gas is $4.75—marking a $1.61 increase from the same time last year.
The same goes for the national average cost for a gallon of diesel fuel, which was $3.26 on July 7, 2021, and currently sits at $5.70.
And while many Americans have been forced to rethink summer other nonessential travel plans, recent price hikes have jeopardized the health vulnerable community members.
In March, Cure Today reported that cancer patients already burdened by treatment costs now face even greater difficulties due to astronomical gas prices and in June, both WRAL.com and Becker’s Hospital Review reported that patients from North Carolina to Michigan have exhausted all financial resources traveling for cancer care.
At the UNC Rex cancer center in Raleigh, 10 percent of patients require transportation to and from treatment appointments.
But since the beginning of the pandemic in early 2020, that figure has doubled and according to WRAL, has only worsened due to increasing gas prices.
“It’s definitely turned from concern into challenge over the last couple of months,” Emmeline Madsen, UNC Rex Director of Oncology Support Services, told WRAL. “Trying to decide how to get from point A to point B with fuel prices takes their attention off the most important thing for them.”
By providing cancer patients with gas cards, the cancer care team at Mercy Health Lourdes Hospital in Paducah hopes to mitigate financial challenges resulting from high gas prices and keep patients on treatment schedules without interruption.
