Tour the New Cancer Center at El Camino Hospital Sat March 7th 1-4 pm

As many of you know, I’ve been helping care for a friend with advanced leukemia, who requires blood and platelet transfusions every 1-3 days, chemotherapy and a range of other services. The physical and emotional toll on him, his family and all of his supportive friends and loved ones has been tremendous.

One aspect that has been particularly frustrating for his family is trying to make sense of all different information they’re hearing from the 12+ doctors that are constantly rotating through the clinics. I just wish that the new Cancer Center at El Camino Hospital with its long list of patient centered amenities all designed to care for patients and families had been available to them when they began this journey.

Tour the New Facility

Before the Center begins serving patient needs, El Camino Hospital invites you for a tour of the new facility at a special open house on March 7th. This is a great opportunity to meet the Cancer Center staff and physicians, and learn more about the expanded and personalized services that will be available in one convenient location. Stop by and enjoy some light refreshments and entertainment provided by our Healing Arts program, and see how we’re building on our foundation of physician-directed, patient-centric, seamless care.

In addition, El Camino Hospital’s Cancer Center’s 5-year survival rates for breast, colon, prostate and lung cancers demonstrate better results when compared to national benchmarks. And, recently, the Commission on Cancer issued a three-year Accreditation with Commendation, which is the highest that can be achieved by a community hospital.

Here’s what else reassures and impresses me:

• I spoke to one of the oncologists recently who would have offered my friend the exact same chemotherapeutic regimen as the 2 university medical centers that I surveyed.

• The Physicians associated with the Cancer Center have clinical expertise and are personally, passionately committed to the care and comfort of their patients.

• I was able to get a patient an appointment the next day with the Cancer center at El Camino Hospital compared to an 8 day wait elsewhere.

• There is direct access to your Cancer Center physician partner, without having to be routed through multiple gatekeepers.

• Because nutrition and weight loss is common with cancers and treatment, there will be on-site nutritional counseling.

• With weight loss, many patients feel cold and have more difficulty finding a comfortable position when getting infusions and transfusions. For this reason, more comfortable treatment chairs with memory foam and patient-controlled radiant heat has been added to the infusion bays in the new expanded infusion center.

• As more of the genetic causes of cancer are identified, more families have questions which is why integrated services such as genomics and genetic counseling along with survivorship programs will also be available.

• And, because, every little thing helps, there will also be:

- Extended hours (evenings) for patient and family convenience

- Expanded infusion center and more exam rooms for comfort, convenience and easier scheduling of treatments, which translates to less waiting times and easier scheduling.

- In-house Laboratory and Pharmacy providing faster turnaround of tests and easier access to infusion therapy.

- Expanded boutique space offering patients products they need during treatment such as hats, clothing, skin care, cooking and guidebooks, etc.

• Reserved parking for additional convenience.

The Cancer program at El Camino Hospital was initially built with a 10 million dollar grant to meet the advanced, innovative care expectations of patients and deliver services in an easy to access, healing environment that results in a referring physician’s, patient and family’s emotional comfort with decisions and patient’s physical comfort as the number one priority during this difficult time.

I hope to see you at the Community Open House on March 7th from 1-4 p.m. More details can be found by clicking here.

Disclosure: I’m working with El Camino Hospital to help inform the community about the services, programs and ways that they are helping all of us live healthier lives.