In our final blog of the year, Head of Cancer Information Development Anna Leibowitz looks back at some of our key projects in 2015...
2015 has been a very busy year for the information team. Everyone has worked hard to produce even more information for people affected by cancer and to make our information accessible and available to as many people as possible. As the year comes to an end, I just wanted to remind you of a few of our highlights.
More than 50 of our cancer information booklets are now available as free eBooks for people to download for their Kindles, all major e-readers, mobile devices and tablets. And, as soon as we update the booklets, the information is instantly available in the eBooks. They are now in colour, feature links to other websites and include all of our diagrams and illustrations (with spoken descriptions for people with reading problems). You can find out more and download our eBooks online.
I’m delighted to say we’ve produced a series of videos of people sharing their experiences of coping with cancer alongside another disability – hearing loss, sight loss and learning disabilities. If you or someone you know is in a similar situation, take a look at the videos to see how other people have coped. We also produced videos for health professionals, giving guidance on how they can better support people with disabilities. You can watch all our information videos on our YouTube channel.
Do you ever feel overwhelmed by all the information coming your way? We realise this is often the case and have made some changes to our website to make it easier to see what’s there and get the information you need. So, we’ve been adding summaries of key information at the top of the page for each section. And, if you want more detail, it’s all there for you to read in the full, longer version of the information which is only a click away.
Another project looking at key information has been our new pocket-sized Z-card with the signs and symptoms of cancer. Lots of people have ordered a Z-card and they’ve been very popular on our mobile information centres. We’ve also developed a Z-card for the symptoms of malignant spinal cord compression (MSCC) – a dangerous condition that can sometimes happen if cancer spreads to the spine. These handy cards can be popped in your pocket or wallet as a quick reminder of the signs to look out for. If you think they may be helpful for you, you can order the cards from the be.macmillan website.
These are just a few of the many products we’ve been working on and developing throughout the year. We hope you’ve found some of them helpful. If you have any feedback on our information, we’d love to hear from you, so please get in touch.
Wishing everyone a brilliant 2016!
To see what else Macmillan's cancer information team has been blogging about, please visit our blog home page! You can subscribe to receive our blogs by email or RSS too.
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