Gift Helps Expand Navigator Program For Cancer Patients

FARMINGTON — A regional real estate giant recently made a groundbreaking $750,000 pledge to the University of Connecticut Health Center that will expand a program that helps patients who are newly diagnosed with cancer.

The gift from William Raveis Real Estate, Mortgage and Insurance, New England’s largest family-owned real estate company, will allow the health center, together with the American Cancer Society, to expand its Navigator program, which provides support and guidance to patients who are newly diagnosed with cancer.

The existing program is run by volunteers and focuses exclusively on patients with breast cancer. With Raveis’s support, the new program, which will be called the William Raveis-ACS Navigator Program, will become a full-time program and will assist people with all types of cancer.

The concept was intriguing to many of the top leaders at Raveis, including Carolyn Deal, president/COO of William Raveis Real Estate, and a ten-year cancer survivor.

“When you’re first diagnosed, you only halfway hear the things people are telling you. You don’t even know what questions to ask,” she said. “And you quickly find that the more you ask other people, or the more you look online, the more overwhelmed you get, because everyone’s cancer is different,” she adds, noting that she would have appreciated a Navigator program when she was first diagnosed.

“We’ve seen how cancer affects our company,” said Lorraine Megenis, vice president of operations at Raveis. “A very high percentage of our 1,900 sales associates are female. If they haven’t gone through cancer themselves, their sisters, mothers, or friends have. We feel the support given to patients through the Navigator program is a necessity.”

“We’ve always supported research and education, but this is something that is helping people right here and now,” added William Raveis, chairman and CEO. “The big picture is vital, but so is making sure that we assist individual patients and their families through our philanthropy.”

Mr Ravies said the collective dedication of his sales associates, employees, vendors, and clients has been nothing short of outstanding with such positive outcomes to fundraising efforts.

“Knowing this is only the beginning,” he said. “We’re excited to see where the Navigator program will go in the years to come as it continues to expand and grow.”

“Raveis’s support is so important because it allows us to expand the scope of our program and help more of our patients,” said Carolyn D. Runowicz, MD, director of the health center’s Neag Comprehensive Cancer Center.