New breast cancer center name announced at ceremony
By John Giffin (Contact)
Wednesday, November 2, 2011
Newman Regional Health held a ceremony Tuesday night to launch the Powered by Pink Campaign and announced the name for the comprehensive breast care center that will open in February 2012.
The W.S. and E.C. Jones Breast Center is named for the Walter S. and Evan C. Jones Testamentary Trust.
“We are extremely honored to have the support of the W.S. and E.C. Jones Testamentary Trust Bank of America Trustee as we launch this very important campaign to bring comprehensive breast care services to our patients,” said Jodi Heermann, executive director of the Newman Regional Health Foundation in a news release. “This gift represents the value of maintaining the highest level of health care services at Newman Regional Health. The W.S. and E.C. Jones Breast Care Center will be committed to early detection, diagnosis and treatment of breast cancer. We are truly grateful to the W.S. and E.C. Jones Testamentary Trust Bank of America Trustee for their generosity.”
Costing approximately $600,000, the new center will be built in the current Human Resources Department office located near the main entrance of the hospital.
Construction of the W.S. and E.C. Jones Breast Center is projected to be finished by February 2012.
During the construction, the Human Resources Department will be moved upstairs and the area left vacated will undergo a complete makeover.
“We’re basically going to take out what’s currently there,” said Harold Blitz, director of facilities. “From a wall perspective, there’s no point in taking out stuff I can re-use. In the entire space there are three walls that can stay and everything else goes away.”
He continued, “We have concrete cutting to do and new electrical service and such to bring into that location.”
With many patients traveling to Topeka or Wichita for treatment, Newman saw a need for cancer treatment services under one roof. This is the second time Newman has considered offering this type of facility.
“The hospital looked at doing this several years ago,” said pharmacist Jim Wicoff. “There have been a number of anecdotal responses that we need this.”
The services the W.S. and E.C. Jones Breast Care Center will provide include oncology, radiation, X-ray and imaging.
“We want to speed the process up,” said Dr. Tim Harris, a surgeon at Newman. “A woman comes in for a routine mammogram. The films are then read. If there is an abnormal area, usually they come back and do additional X-rays. That will be scheduled. Then they have to wait for that to be read. Then an ultra-sound and that would be read.”
He continued, “By that time there was a concern and they wanted to see a surgeon, it was already two or three weeks or more. That’s just too long a time.”
When the unit opens, it will offer digital mammography and use the stereotatic unit about a month later because of the training involved.
Dr. Wajeeha Razaq, medical oncologist, who also works at a center similar to the planned center at Newman, expressed the emotional relief an all-in-one center would provide.
“The patients who get an abnormal mammogram would get the biopsy and everything the same day,” said Razaq. “If you are going to wait for three weeks, then the patients’ anxiety level goes very, very high.”
The emotional strain from the uncertainty of the current way Newman handles breast cancer patients causes patients to go elsewhere for diagnosis and care.
“They try to go out and seek other medical opinions,” said Razaq. “That’s how we lose patients from here.”
Razaq is certain that when Newman opens the breast center, it will save area patients a lot in travel and allow more women to engage in preventative care.
“I know many patients that are going to Wichita and Topeka every single day to get radiation,” said Razaq. “They had an isolated part just related to breast cancer or breast issues, they will feel very, very comfortable that there is a team that can take care of anything.”
After the age of 40 it is suggested all women need to get a digital mammography done at least once a year.
“One out of five women are being diagnosed with breast cancer,” said Razaq. “Small, big, whatever. I don’t think many women in the Emporia area are getting a mammogram every year.”