Speaker: Natia Esiashvili, MD, FASTRO, Professor of Radiation Oncology, Emory Winship Cancer Institute
Natia Esiashvili, MD, FASTRO: Dear colleagues. I'm honored to be a speaker at ASTRO 2024 Storytelling session about promoting sustainability, resilience and growth of providers caring for pediatric patients. It will take place on Tuesday, October 1st. The title of my talk is "How Do We Support Child, Family and Each Other During the Scary Journey of Radiotherapy?" My stories will draw from best practices and my own institutional experience. I'll share families' poignant and inspiring testimony about their child's cancer journey. This will help us to appreciate humanistic and holistic aspects of care we provide. I'll illustrate how families and staff can unite, grounded in mutual trust and respect, to support child undergoing transformative experience of cancer therapy. I'll emphasize the critical role of well-co-ordinated and robust pediatric radiotherapy team. I'll stress the importance of mutual support among providers and need to safeguard ourselves from burnout. I'll encourage attendees to adopt similar strategies and tools in their own practices. Ultimately, through these stories, my goal is to celebrate the courage, strength and resilience of children, families and providers. Thank you.