The Canadian Lymphoma Foundation was founded in 1998 by Deborah Sterritt in Toronto. Deborah was diagnosed with an indolent form of non-Hodgkin Lymphoma in 1995. In early 1998 Deb also discovered that no group existed in Canada which could provide patients with the information they needed. With the help of Dr. Zanke, Terry Creighton and Jane Mingay, she founded the Canadian Lymphoma Foundation (CLF).
The two organizations merged in 2000. Both LRFC and CLF recognized the need for a strong, national organization in order to benefit Lymphoma patients throughout Canada. As a result, the two foundations joined in 2000, forming Lymphoma Foundation Canada. The goal of LFC continues to focus on Lymphoma research, education and awareness in Canada. Terry Creighton sits as Vice Chair, Board of Directors and Chair of the Fundraising Committee, Dr. Joseph Connors is Chair of the Scientific Advisory Board and Dr. Brent Zanke sits on the Scientific Advisory Board.
The existing Lymphoma Foundation Canada (LFC) site, although serving a large user base did not possess any dynamic functionality or any ability for administrators to communicate or update the sites content effectively. In an effort to better service the user base, a partnership was developed between LFC & Hoffmann La Roche to create a site that would allow for a richer end user experience. Through initial discussions and outreach programs to the community it was decided that there had to be an easy to manage social component to the site which would allow Lymphoma patients and caregivers to communicate their trials, tribulations and successes to one another. Other factors critical to the site were the need to manage a robust content forum with a minimum of staff resources.
The MERGE platform framework allows for the implementation and creation of a truly robust Lymphoma patient and caregiver support system fulfilling the needs both from a content management and an application perspective. Using the MERGE platform as a basis a new design for the LFC was implemented and specific applications were deployed to meet the client’s needs in developing a solution that would allow the LFC to manage content, users and communications more effectively. The solution also provides the user population the ability to interface with one another through personal profiles, shared stories, content comments and feedback. To further augment these capabilities the MERGE platform allows for the implementation of effective communications strategies through integrated campaign management.
The core benefits to the LFC center around providing an enterprise class application set to a foundation with limited manpower resources. Through the implementation of MERGE Content Management tools LFC can manage and control content in a timely and effective manner without having to commit to additional design, creative and developmental resources.
With multilingual language support built in LFC can easily and effectively control language preferences across Canada. Improved communications, end user experience, content and community support, patient support and empowerment as well as ease of management have lead to the creation of an online resource unlike others on the web.