Catherine Paykin (left) with GO2 for Lung Cancer’s Miranda Goff (right).

Catherine Paykin, MSSW, LCSW, is on a mission to make sure lung cancer patients are heard and supported. An oncology social worker at NYU Langone Health Perlmutter Cancer Center she meets with lung cancer patients one-on-one, runs support groups for both patients and caregivers, and even co-wrote a play for Lung Cancer Awareness Day.

GO2 for Lung Cancer caught up with the inaugural winner of the GO2 for Lung Cancer Lung Cancer Social Worker of the Year Award to talk a little bit about the critical role that oncology social workers play.

“Social workers are an important part of the care team,” explained Paykin. “We support patients alongside physicians, dieticians, nurse practitioners, infusion nurses, medical assistants, secretaries, and everyone else at the Cancer Center.”

Paykin said that she sets up appointments with new patients after they see an oncologist and as they start treatment. Her first task: gauging their emotional and practical stressors. From there, she can connect patients to needed support services. It could be a need for transportation to medical appointments, or help with food insecurity (the Cancer Center has a food pantry in Brooklyn), or someone to run errands and bring groceries up four flights of stairs. And Paykin is currently building a robust database of local psychotherapists who take insurance and/or have sliding fee scales and who can help patients navigate the emotional ups and downs of their disease.

As for her support groups, Paykin emphasized that “the people who join groups are kind, loving people. The group gives them time to talk to people they didn’t know before who are struggling with the same issues.”

Helping patients share their stories also inspired Paykin to write a play.

Giving patients their voice.

Even before she wrote the play, she knew she wanted to elevate patient voices. It all started when she attended a Lung Cancer Awareness Day event at Perlmutter before she worked there. The event featured mostly physicians and she wondered: Where are the patients?

Once hired, she told her support group she wanted to show people what it’s like to have lung cancer and be in a support group.

“They loved the idea,” said Paykin. “We started about six months in advance and worked really hard. We met for an extra hour or two a week, and we wrote and rewrote.” Paykin even signed up for a Saturday playwriting class with an NYU professor to hone their work. “I’d take them the script each week and the playwriters in the class would comment on it.” In the end, they had a play they performed at the Cancer Center.

In nominating Paykin for the Lung Cancer Social Worker of the Year Award, one of her colleagues wrote that “Catherine is always available to help our patients, and the clinical care that she provides is excellent. We have a large volume of lung cancer patients at our Cancer Center, and she has been consistently able to meet their needs. The kindness with which she treats our patients is exemplary, and she is a role model for many.”

A worthy award winner indeed.

Do you know an oncology social worker who goes above and beyond? Nominations for the 2021 GO2 for Lung Cancer Social Worker of the Year Award are open until March 31.