The Brandenburg Cancer Care Association (Landesarbeitsgemeinschaft Onkologische Versorgung Brandenburg), LAGO for short, was set up in 1993 on the initiative of the Brandenburg Ministry of Labor, Social Affairs, Health and Family Affairs (MASGF) and is a certified charity. Our mission is to ensure continuous improvement in cancer care and treatment in our federal state.
We offer institutions and professional groups, self-help organizations and volunteers in cancer care a forum to exchange experiences and form cooperations.
Our members are legal entities under public and private law and organizations active in supporting the aims of our association. LAGO operates in close cooperation with the Brandenburg State Oncology Quality Conference (QKO) and the Brandenburg State Tumor Center (TZBB).
We design projects for the advancement of cancer prevention. We develop concepts and coordinate initiatives for the improvement of medical, nursing and psychosocial care of cancer patients and their families. From treatment to palliative care and hospice care. Here are some examples of the many instances of our engagement.
In the area of prevention and self-help, we conduct statewide campaigns such as VENUS to promote breast cancer screening, PIKS to raise cervical cancer awareness among young people, and "Brandenburg Against Bowel Cancer."
In the area of quality assurance, we conduct surveys, for example on the psychosocial care of people with cancer. In the quest to improve community cancer care, we offer certification procedures culminating in the issue of the LAGO seal.
We promote palliative and hospice care in the State of Brandenburg by joint activities with local players. We coordinate regional palliative networks and organize events such as the Potsdam Hospice Days.
We support further education and training for professionals in the form of expert conferences, publications, compact training events and practically oriented seminars, for example our basic seminar on Psychosocial Cancer Care (BPO).
We inform the professional public and patients by issuing leaflets, conference reviews, cancer care magazines and brochures, for example the "Cancer Care Guide" series.
All our initiatives focus on patient wellbeing. We document and evaluate all projects. We use the insights thus obtained in the design of further projects.
Our expert task forces play a central role in project development. They are composed of the experts among our membership and external experts, all of them working pro bono. In the course of their interprofessional cooperation, the experts develop ideas for model projects and provide impulses for our network activities.
Our initiatives are recognized nationwide. Outpatient nursing services of other federal states participate in the certification procedures culminating in the LAGO seal.
LAGO projects help to improve structures. The creation of new positions for the psychooncological care of cancer patients in hospitals is a direct result of one of our model projects.
