Issue link: https://viewer.e-digitaledition.com/i/90666
COVER FEATURE UHS Cancer Care: A New Community Standard GREATER BINGHAMTON MEDICAL ONCOLOGIST MADHURI YALAMANCHILI, M.D., A MEMBER OF THE UHS HOSPITALS MEDICAL STAFF, ONCE WORKED WITH A YOUNG HIGH SCHOOL STUDENT WHOSE TREATMENT REQUIRED DAILY CHEMOTHERAPY FOR A SIGNIFICANT PERIOD OF TIME. TWO YEARS LATER, THE SAME PATIENT AGAIN VISITED DR. YALAMANCHILI IN HER OFFICE AT BROOME ONCOLOGY IN JOHNSON CITY, NOT TO REPORT A RECURRENCE OF CANCER SYMPTOMS, BUT TO SEEK A BIT OF RELATIONSHIP ADVICE. AT UHS, THESE KINDS OF CLOSE CONNECTIONS BETWEEN SPECIALISTS AND THEIR PATIENTS ARE NOT UNCOMMON AND, PAIRED WITH A COMMITMENT TO EXCEED NATIONAL STANDARDS IN CLINICAL CARE, DEMONSTRATE THE HEALTH CARE SYSTEM'S STRONG DEDICATION TO ITS CANCER PATIENTS. S TR ATE G I C A L LY P L AC E D THROUGHOUT the local ly owned, not-for-profit UHS sys- tem — at UHS Wilson Medical Center, UHS Binghamton General Hospital and UHS Chenango Memorial Hospital — UHS' oncological services cover the full spectrum of care: screen- ing, diagnosis, treatment and recovery. Ruth Manzer, R.N., OCN, Cancer Nurse Coordinator at UHS, explains that provid- ers strive to ensure that each of the 1,000 patients who receive care annually at UHS has a seamless path that's as comfortable as possible every step of the way. The continuum of care features advanced protocols, enrollment in national clinical research at the local level and cutting-edge technologies, all delivered collaboratively by both UHS-employed providers and other practitioners in the community who are members of UHS' voluntary medical staffs. But at UHS, the technical merits of the most sophisticated medicine available never overshadow the human touch in compassionate care, says radiation oncolo- gist Rashid Haq, M.D., Medical Director of Radiation Oncology at UHS. In fact, he says, "The providers at UHS never lose sight of the significance of the total patient experience or the value of engaging each patient as part of the care team." Dr. Yalamanchili agrees. "Being in a small community, we are able to provide more personalized care," she says. "Patients find they can reach us more easily and develop a real trust in us. Cancer can really change who you are. In a "By learning more about the biology of the cancer, treatments are becoming more effective, more specific and, easily tolerated and more specific to the individual cancer, the patient outcomes are better. In many instances, certain cancers are becoming like chronic oftentimes, have fewer side effects. If you have a treatment that is more diseases. That's a very dramatic change in the last five years, and so, as with all of medicine, it's becoming more important to treat the entire patient when you're treating a serious disease." A technician at work in the state-of-the-art radiation oncology/CyberKnife command room 6 | Central New York MD NEWS s MDNEWS.COM — Ronald Harris, D.O., oncologist/hematologist, Chair of the Oncology Committee at UHS