Take an online tour of our Worcester, MA Hope Lodge

"How Hope Lodge Saved My Daughter's Life"

Read our Summer 2007 Newsletter

Did you know that, on average, a cancer survivor undergoing radiation therapy will receive 25 to 30 treatments over six consecutive weeks?

These frequent and lengthy treatments require the technology and medical expertise of a cancer treatment facility. Getting the right care sometimes means cancer patients must travel away from home, often to a cancer treatment facility in another city.

To help people with cancer meet this challenge, the American Cancer Society created a Hope Lodge in Worcester, MA, 20 years ago.

The Worcester Hope Lodge is a free, temporary home away from home for cancer patients being treated in Worcester and Boston hospitals, and their families. It provides guests with private rooms, kitchen facilities, and transportation to and from treatments. More importantly, perhaps, it also provides a human support network.

Hope Lodge in Worcester, pictured above, is a beautiful Victorian building located at 7 Oak St. The director is Debra Aharonian. She can be reached at 508-792-2985 or by email at debra.aharonian@cancer.org.

There's also a Hope Lodge in Burlington, VT

A brand new Hope Lodge in Burlington, VT, will begin accepting patients in January 2008. In addition, Boston will soon be home to its first-ever American Cancer Society Hope Lodge. The AstraZeneca Hope Lodge Center in Boston is now under construction and it is on track to start accepting guests in the fall of 2008.

Nationwide, there are 22 American Cancer Society Hope Lodges in 15 states and Puerto Rico, and several more are under construction or consideration. The continuous growth of the Hope Lodge concept has proven that these facilities play an important role in reducing the cost, inconvenience, emotional strain, and isolation that often accompany a cancer patient's extended stay away from home.

Directions to Hope Lodge Worcester

From the East (Boston): Take the Mass Pike (I-90) west to 495 north to 290 west, exit 18. Bear right off the exit ramp and continue straight for two blocks. Take a right onto Highland Street and continue up the hill. Take a left at the third light (at Sole Proprietor) onto West Street. At the next traffic light, turn left onto Elm Street, then take your first left onto Oak Street. Hope Lodge is a big yellow house on the left corner with a sign on the front lawn.

From the West: Take the Mass Pike (I-90) to Exit 10, Auburn. Bear left after the tolls onto Route 290 East toward Worcester. Take Exit 17 onto Route 9 west. Take a left at the exit ramp onto Belmont Street. Continue straight and turn left at the fifth traffic light onto West Street. Then at the first light, turn left onto Elm Street. Take your first left onto Oak Street. Hope Lodge is a big yellow house on the left corner with a sign on the front lawn.

From the North: Take 495 south to 290 west. Take Exit 18 off 290. Bear right off the exit ramp (do not make a right turn which you could also do there) and continue straight for two blocks. At light take a right onto Highland Street and continue up the hill. Take a left at the fourth light (the Sole Proprietor restaurant is on you right) onto West Street. At the next traffic light, turn left onto Elm Street, then take your first left onto Oak Street. Hope Lodge is a big yellow house on the left corner with a sign on the front lawn.