Breast Cancer Center Creates Community For Patients
Published: October 3, 2005
No community is safe from the threat of breast cancer, which affects one in eight U.S. women. Northern Kentucky is no exception. But when a community pitches in to raise awareness and improve treatment of breast cancer, it can save lives.
The Fischer Homes Breast Center at St. Elizabeth Medical Center South began as a team effort, with generous donations from community members and businesses totaling $1.5 million. Eight months after its grand opening, the center continues to foster a sense of community among its staff and patients, while providing personalized, state-of-the-art health care.
“The neat thing about our center is that it was built by the community, for the women in the community,” said Nurse Manager Phyllis Reed. “We’re always looking at our patients’ and the community’s needs, too.”
The center is unique because it combines testing, treatment, education and counseling services for women in one facility. The sophisticated, high-tech center opened on Feb. 1, and it provides screening mammograms to approximately 1,500 women each month. The 11,000 square-foot center also offers more advanced, diagnostic tests for women, as well as treatment and counseling services.
“We do try to make it so that once somebody comes in for their screening mammogram, whatever might come up, that we have the ability to help them with that problem,” Reed said.
Central Support System
Reed said that during her 14 years of working at St. E’s Women’s Wellness Center, the most frequent complaint from breast cancer patients was that their treatment seemed too spread out over a variety of offices and doctors, and that it was difficult to keep track of it all.
The Fischer Homes Breast Center, named for the local homebuilding company that matched every donation made to build the center, has eliminated that confusion. From routine mammograms to diagnostic tests, from nurse mentors to weekly support groups, the center combines all the steps in breast cancer treatment into a more patient-friendly process, thanks to a dedicated staff of more than 50 experienced health professionals and funding from generous donations by 800 local individuals and businesses.
Healthy women can visit the center for their routine yearly mammograms simply by calling to schedule an appointment. Test results are available within two business days via the telephone or the Internet.
“Having everything centralized, it makes it even better for the patient, even easier. And that was the reason behind wanting to bring all the services to one place,” Reed said. “That’s why we’re able to have the turnaround for our mammography reports so quick, because everything’s very well-coordinated, and it’s all in one place.”
Other Service Available
The center also offers genetic counseling services for women who believe they might be at risk for breast cancer due to their family medical history. And, beginning next month, the center will begin screening patients for signs of emotional distress, and offer subsequent mental health counseling.
The center consolidates all the breast cancer operations previously available at St. E’s through its Women’s Wellness Program, which offers a variety of programs, from education classes to cardiac risk appraisals to osteoporosis screenings.
“For such a long time, we just treated people’s illnesses. And health care has finally moved to a point where people are recognizing how important health promotion and health maintenance is, and that all comes with education. So that’s why those kinds of things are so important,” Reed said.
That’s also why health care professionals encourage all women over the age of 40 to schedule yearly mammograms, because early detection is the best way to combat breast cancer.
As part of Breast Cancer Awareness Month, St. Elizabeth will send its mobile mammography van to communities across the region beginning in October and ending in December. Women are encouraged to visit the van in their communities and receive mammograms, which can detect breast cancer between one and three years before women can even feel the lump, according to the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
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