BCS Volunteer News
June 22, 2011


The last issue of BCS Volunteer News provided an overview on effective listening. This issue will give you an overview and tips for completing the Monthly Client Contact Checklist. 


We developed the Checklist to make your monthly client check-in process easy and efficient. Additionally, the information you receive from your clients’ responses gives us important data we need for grant applications and reporting, especially regarding: 

• compliance with treatment
• changes that occur to clients’ household finances in the middle of treatment, and
• complications our clients may experience as a result of surgeries or other treatments

Please use the form during each client check-in and fax or mail a form for each client to the BCS office no later than the first Friday of each month. We will use the data you collect to prepare for the monthly Client Review meeting and for our ongoing data collection and reporting.


The Checklist contains the following questions:

• How are you feeling today? How is your treatment progressing? A great lead-in question to start your conversation. Note how the client is feeling physically and emotionally.


• Has your treatment plan changed or will it change? Treatment plans can change as a result of new information from scans or lab tests, delayed healing from procedures, infections or complications. This information is very helpful to us to know how long we may need to provide support for the client. We also need to know if something in the client’s personal life has led to delayed treatment or a change in the treatment plan so that we can make appropriate referrals to other resources or re-evaluate our support.


• When did you last see your oncologist or surgeon and when is your next appointment? This information helps us know if the client is attending all scheduled appointments. One of our main goals is eliminating barriers to treatment - if our clients are missing appointments, we can determine if additional resources and referrals are necessary to prevent this from occurring. Moreover, if our support is helping someone attend appointments that she was missing prior to becoming a BCS client, we know our intervention is meeting our goal of ensuring compliance with treatment. 


• Have your household circumstances changed? (e.g., has anyone moved in? Have you moved?) Changes to the household may warrant new referrals to additional resources or changes to our support. Knowing if a client has moved is critical for our monthly check distribution process. Without this information, checks can be mailed to an old address, which not only delays the client’s support, but also unnecessarily wastes resources such as postage and printing costs. OR, for example, if a client moves in with a family member and no longer pays rent and utilities, we may need to adjust our level of support or perhaps terminate support.


• Have your income or expenses changed? One of the most important pieces of information we need to collect from our clients! Please collect specific details about income and expense increases or decreases. For example, if a client now sees her physician weekly instead of monthly, and incurs a $30 copay with each visit, we may need to adjust our level of support. OR, if a client applied for and is now receiving Social Security Disability, the increase in income may warrant a change in our support.