Michelle Counts                                                                                               
Assistant to CEO and Counselor to Patients
Cancer Outreach Foundation, Inc.
Abingdon, VA 24211

The scope of the position of assistant to the chief executive officer of the Cancer Outreach Foundation (COF) in Abingdon, Va., is wide. On a typical day, she pays bills, makes deposits, secures free medications for patients, delivers groceries to patients’ homes or gives much-needed rides home. Michelle Counts sees these duties as opportunities — chances to improve the lives of cancer patients and their families.

In the dual role of patient counselor, she juggles her time between office duties and time with patients at the clinic or at hospitals the foundation services. Ron H. Ely, a COF board member, says that Counts is correctly perceived by the patients as loving, kind hearted, concerned, compassionate, highly motivated and totally committed to serving. As the primary contact with cancer patients and families, Counts provides support at a devastating time and sees to it that patients’ immediate needs are handled, such as securing free or reduced-price medications for those without resources, providing transportation or payment of delinquent bills. In fact, colleagues say that Counts has been known to be “out all hours of the night making sure a family was taken care of.” 

Anne K. Coulthard, another COF board member, says, “Just as many people who serve the sick, their troubles often become very personal. One must walk the fine line of sincerity  and passion and sanity. Michelle walks this line every day, and on this journey she shares her faith with those who are in need of it most: cancer patients who are facing the pain and uncertainty of living or dying. Michelle is an integral partner of the health team that makes this journey less frightening and less painful.”

Truly, cancer patients in our region have learned to “count on Counts” when they have no other place to turn.