Needs Beyond Medicine is committed to providing comprehensive support for cancer patients by offering financial assistance for non-medical expenses and promoting early detection through educational outreach.
When the organization was first founded in 2006, the main purpose was to help breast cancer patients pay for non-medical expenses while undergoing treatment. Since then, the program has been renamed the Relief Program, which now aids people with any type of cancer who are undergoing active treatment.
At first, Needs Beyond Medicine was a volunteer organization that used a fiscal agent to help with the 501c3 status. With the help of Philip Brown, current CEO and founder, Needs Beyond Medicine gained its own 501c3 status and IRS number; it is now an official, established Utah business.
NeedsBeyond Medicine is lucky enough to have key partnerships with all of the Utah area hospitals, clinics, and community centers that treat cancer patients. Because Needs Beyond Medicine is a stand-alone nonprofit organization that works with all community organizations and hospitals, regardless of their alignment, patients are eligible to receive support no matter where they are receiving treatment.
Today, with the dedication of full-time staff member Philip Brown and the help of interns and volunteers, Needs Beyond Medicine is proud to offer the invaluable Relief Program, as well as educational seminars throughout Utah on various cancers. The seminars present helpful information about the signs and symptoms of the most commonly diagnosed types of cancers.
Needs Beyond Medicine’s vision for the future is to expand, with the goal to raise awareness and educate the public on all types of cancers. Needs Beyond Medicine hopes to be able to offer the Relief Program to all cancer survivors currently in need of assistance, regardless of their geographic location or cancer type.
Phil Brown, director and founder of Needs Beyond Medicine, first started with the organization in 2006 when it operated as a volunteer-driven committee. The committee hired Phil to help establish a business plan and future for the organization. In early 2008, the committee disbanded and did not want to continue, so Phil decided to push forward with establishing Needs Beyond Medicine as a 501(c)3. That goal became a reality in 2009. As Needs Beyond Medicine’s first employee and current operational head, Phil has been a long-time advocate for both the care of cancer patients and the education on how the disease can be better managed through early detection.
Phil’s passion of building awareness in the community through education, as well as his dedication to caring for the needs of those living with cancer, are inspired and driven on a daily basis by his own personal tragedy; Phil’s mother, Karen Brown, passed away in 1996 of ovarian cancer after 18 months of battling the disease with surgeries and chemotherapy. To honor her, one of Needs Beyond Medicine’s events is named after her, and there’s a scholarship set up in her name. The scholarship is to help current nursing students with tuition and books while they are attending nursing school in Utah.
It is Phil’s goal to raise awareness among the general public of the life-saving benefits of early cancer screenings. His objective is to expand Needs Beyond Medicine and the regions it serves throughout the country so that the message and work of the organization can reach and benefit more lives. Phil earned both his Bachelor of Science in Marketing and Master of Business Administration from the University of Phoenix.
Needs Beyond Medicine
P.O. Box 712043
Salt Lake City, UT 84171
info@needsbeyondmedicine.org