Case Study — Waldenstrom Macroglobulinemia

Overview

Our client hired us to provide Concierge travel support to an expansion cohort with Waldenstrom Macroglobulinemia, a rare white blood cell cancer. These patients, about 50 in total, were to receive an investigational radiotherapy treatment.

What our clients didn’t immediately recognize: the highly complicated travel ramifications of the treatment.

Upon conducting our customary pre-support needs assessment just weeks before FPI, our Concierge team identified the heightened risks that patients receiving the radioactive therapy would pose to their families and the general public — revealing for the sponsor the significant impact and limitations this posed on patient travel.

In response, and to our client’s great relief, BBK designed and implemented a comprehensive, highly customizable and scalable travel and accommodation program to ensure secure physical distancing and that enabled seamless study continuity.

Challenges

A short two-week period to identify and institute solutions
Patients, many of whom would be traveling long distances and potentially internationally, would need to maintain six feet of distance for about a week post-treatment (precluding the option of air travel during that period)
A relatively quick travel turnaround for a second infusion, meaning most patients would need to be housed — with specified precautionary measures — for anywhere from one night up to a full two continuous months
Because of treatment-related fatigue, patients needed comprehensive support for daily living activities including meals, laundry, companionship and the ability for both the patient and caregiver to travel beyond the confines of their accommodations
A need for sites to implement a comprehensive, customized program from the moment of patient consent

Solutions

Through our TCN^TM Arrive service, we created a comprehensive and scalable long-term stay program, inclusive of the following elements:

Specialized ground transportation van service to allow six-foot distancing between the passenger and driver.
Accommodations that provided a private entrance, kitchenette, grocery and/or meal delivery, in-room laundry, a secondary room for caregivers and outdoor “walkability” to support ongoing well-being
Specialized medical cleaning service to remove the risk to facility cleaning staff
And, finally, to facilitate site staff communication and understanding about the program, we created materials and special site trainings.