Envision - Summer 2012 - (Page 12)

Community-Based Cancer Care 12 I Program aims to create a national model t is a harbinger of patient care to come: Advanced medical care for some of women’s most complex medical issues no longer is limited to well-known medical centers, but is available and delivered in a community setting. Making the knowledge, resources and treatments accessible to women in rural and suburban communities—without the disruption, expense and logistics of leaving their hometowns—is the goal for Sarasota Memorial Health Care System’s Women’s Cancer Care Program. This is a vision within reach that is quietly and successfully unfolding in Sarasota. It is producing success and results that will have beneficial impacts on Sarasota and throughout the United States in the not-too-distant future. new Models Seven years ago, internationally recognized gynecologic oncologist James Fiorica, M.D., FACOG, who has pioneered a number of techniques for screening and treating ovarian, cervical and uterine cancers, came to Sarasota Memorial to treat area patients with gynecologic cancers. He was also tasked with heading the Women’s Cancer Care Program. He and Sarasota Memorial were intent on developing a local model of care that could be reproduced throughout the country. The effort is paying off—the program may establish the hospital and its medical community as a model for how smaller cancer programs across the country can provide leading-edge care, serving as the example for how a committed, integrated medical community can innovate programs of care for other communities to follow. It is a huge shift in the way women’s cancers are being treated nationwide. Dr. Fiorica’s model is a system in which women can be treated in their local communities with the same advanced care, latest technology and newest drugs that, under the old model, generally would only be available at academic medical centers. “The program is growing very well,” says Dr. Fiorica. “We are fortunate to have great depth of high-quality care here, with very experienced oncologists and surgeons who are connected to other medical professionals throughout the country and who have excellent sources of knowledge and information.” photograph by thinkstock | ARE YOU AT RISK FOR CANCER ? OU R VID EO AT S MH.COM/ ENVI S I ONONL I NE http://www.SMH.COM/ENVISIONONLINE

Table of Contents for the Digital Edition of Envision - Summer 2012

Envision - Summer 2012
Opening Thoughts
Contents
Health Beat
Setting the Table
Timing Is Everything
Planned Giving
A Most Welcome Assist
Community-Based Cancer Care
Earlier Diagnosis, Earlier Treatment
A Community Legacy
At the Frontier of Brain Research
A Roaring Good Time
Nutrition
News and Events

Envision - Summer 2012