The often unseen burden on families, evidence from Kapa3’s everyday practice, and the need for patient navigation, psychosocial support and equitable access to cancer care.
Athens, 6 October 2026
Kapa3 – Cancer Guidance Centre participated in an event organised by the Greek Carers Network EPIONI to mark European Carers Day, held on Tuesday, 6 October 2026, at the European Parliament Liaison Office in Greece, Athens.
In their presentation entitled “The Caregiver as a Key Pillar of Support for Cancer Patients: The Greek Reality,”Evangeli Bista, Co-founder of Kapa3, and Marilia Barka, Psychology student and Kapa3 volunteer, highlighted the multifaceted role of informal carers, the challenges they face and the importance of recognising their contribution to cancer care.
The presentation brought together scientific knowledge and practice-based evidence from Kapa3’s daily operations, highlighting the fact that effective support for people affected by cancer must extend beyond medical treatment.
Cancer care does not end at the hospital. It continues at home, at work, within the family and throughout everyday life.
Informal Carers: The Invisible Coordinators of Cancer Care
Behind many cancer journeys is someone who coordinates appointments, searches for reliable information, manages administrative procedures, organises transportation and provides emotional support.
Informal carers, often family members or people from the patient’s immediate social environment, frequently become the invisible coordinators of care.
Their contribution, however, comes with significant practical, social, financial and psychological demands.
Balancing employment with caregiving responsibilities, losing personal time, facing additional expenses and coping with uncertainty about the course of the disease can substantially affect carers’ quality of life.
These challenges do not necessarily disappear when treatment ends.
Recovery, rehabilitation, returning to everyday routines and adapting to changing family roles may create additional responsibilities and emotional pressures.
Supporting carers is not simply an additional social service. It is an essential component of continuity and quality of care.
What Kapa3’s Data Reveal
Kapa3’s everyday experience demonstrates the important role carers play in seeking information and support.
According to the organisation’s internal telephone activity records, 1,251 telephone contacts were recorded between 27 January and 30 July 2026.
These included 614 incoming and 637 outgoing contacts, with 184 incoming contacts initiated by carers.
In addition, Kapa3’s service records for 2024–2025 indicate that 50.7% of first contacts were initiated by carers. Within the corresponding records, 89.1% of carers who contacted the organisation were first-degree relatives.
These figures describe activity recorded within Kapa3’s services. They should not be interpreted as nationally representative statistics on informal caregiving in Greece.
Nevertheless, they highlight an important reality: the first person seeking guidance is often not the patient, but someone supporting them.
Common requests concern administrative guidance, social rights and benefits, disability certification procedures, employment-related support and access to psychological services.
The challenge is not always a lack of information.
Information is often fragmented across multiple institutions, subject to changing procedures and difficult to translate into practical next steps.
Patients and carers need more than information. They need reliable guidance that helps them take action.
The Psychological Burden of Caregiving Is Not Always Visible
Caregiver burden extends well beyond physical fatigue.
It may involve psychological distress, financial insecurity, changing family dynamics, social isolation and profound existential concerns.
Carers are often expected to remain available and resilient even while experiencing fear, sadness, uncertainty or exhaustion themselves.
Some may hesitate to express their needs, believing that all attention should remain focused on the person living with cancer.
Recognising caregiver distress and ensuring access to psychosocial care, counselling and practical assistance are therefore essential elements of comprehensive cancer support.
Caring for carers is part of caring for patients.
Patient Navigation: Connecting Needs with Support
At Kapa3, patient and social navigation involves much more than answering individual questions.
It is a structured process of identifying needs, recording and prioritising requests, exploring solutions, referring people to appropriate services and reviewing the support provided.
This approach seeks to connect patients and carers with healthcare services, social protection systems and relevant professionals.
Social work and interdisciplinary collaboration are particularly important in addressing practical, financial, administrative and psychological needs in a coordinated way.
Kapa3’s experience highlights that meaningful access to care depends not only on the availability of services, but also on people’s ability to understand, reach and effectively use them.
MYRTO: Digital Innovation Strengthening Human Guidance
The presentation also introduced MYRTO – Kapa3’s AI-Supported Digital Social Navigator, designed to facilitate access to evidence-informed information on social rights, benefits and support services.
MYRTO is being developed in technological collaboration with SimasiaAI, with the valuable support of the TIMA Charitable Foundation.
Using documented information sources, plain language and clarifying questions, the application aims to make complex information easier to access and understand.
Human oversight and referral to appropriate support professionals remain essential aspects of its approach.
According to an administrative dashboard snapshot dated 19 September 2026, MYRTO had recorded 2,220 sessions. This figure refers to application sessions, not necessarily to unique users or beneficiaries.
Topics raised through the application included healthcare benefits, medicines and treatment, disability certification, patient and caregiver rights, employment matters and social protection.
At Kapa3, the value of Artificial Intelligence lies in its ability to strengthen human support rather than replace it.
Technology can organise information. Human relationships make care possible.
Employment and Caregiving: The Need for Institutional Recognition
Supporting someone with cancer frequently affects carers’ professional lives.
Attending appointments, responding to unexpected needs and managing everyday responsibilities require time, flexibility and appropriate employment arrangements.
Accessible information on existing rights and leave entitlements, flexible working arrangements where applicable, return-to-work support and greater awareness among employers and human resources departments can help reduce the burden.
Recognising caregiving responsibilities and preventing workplace exclusion should be part of a broader approach to social protection and inclusive employment.
Five Priorities for More Equitable Cancer Care
Kapa3’s presentation outlined five priorities:
- Recognition of informal carers as essential partners in care and social policy.
- Integration of patient navigation as a consistent component of organised cancer care.
- Access to psychosocial support from diagnosis and throughout the cancer journey.
- Responsible digital inclusion, based on plain language, accessibility, transparency and human oversight.
- Collaboration and sustainable funding, involving public authorities, local government, healthcare professionals and civil society organisations.
These priorities reflect the need for a healthcare and social support system that recognises the interconnected needs of patients, survivors and carers.
From Recognition to Meaningful Support
Kapa3’s participation in the event organised by EPIONI provided another opportunity to highlight the needs of people who provide care every day, often without sufficient recognition or structured support.
Carers’ lived experiences, systematically documented service needs and scientific evidence can inform more responsive healthcare services and public policies.
For Kapa3, care must be understood as an ongoing process connecting people with reliable information, appropriate services, professionals and their communities.
No cancer journey without navigation.
No digital innovation without human connection.
Because care concerns not only the person living with cancer, but also those standing beside them.
Event Information
European Carers Day 2026
Date: 6 October 2026
Venue: European Parliament Liaison Office in Greece, 8 Vasilissis Amalias Avenue, Athens
Organiser: Greek Carers Network EPIONI
Event information:
https://epioni.gr/εκδήλωση-για-την-ευρωπαϊκή-ημέρα-φρον/
Kapa3 – Cancer Guidance Centre
https://www.kapa3.gr/
Explore MYRTO – Digital Social Navigator
https://kapa3-cag-rag-hybrid-deploy.onrender.com/
