Palm Desert Cancer Support Center Will Close After 15 Years

PALM DESERT, CA — CancerPartners, a nonprofit Coachella Valley community support center for cancer patients, survivors and relatives, will close its doors by the end of the month.

"Basically, there's not sufficient funding to sustain the organization until the end of the year," CancerPartners spokeswoman Anita Roark said.

CancerPartners, which has been operating for 15 years, provides educational and emotional support, offering programs such as support groups, medical workshops and social events, all of which are provided at no cost.

The nonprofit has offered support to an average of 3,400 cancer patients, survivors and relatives annually since it opened in November 2004, with some of the patients receiving services for several years, according to the organization.

"Nothing remotely resembling this kind of all-embracing cancer support existed in the Coachella Valley when the founders began their pioneering efforts in the early 2000s," CancerPartners President/CEO Maria Geyer said in a statement. "Today, however, several other healthcare organizations, including two of the valley's hospitals, have begun to offer similar programs. Thus, cancer patients now have a variety of opportunities to get the support they need."

The program was known as Gilda's Club Desert Cities when it opened in Cathedral City in November 2004, part of a nationwide chain of support centers named in honor of "Saturday Night Live" original cast member Gilda Radner, who died of ovarian cancer in 1989. The nonprofit moved to Palm Desert at the end of 2013, and changed its name to CancerPartners in 2017.

— By City News Service / Image via Shutterstock