With this week’s opening of the inpatient oncology unit in the Cabell Huntington Hospital North Patient Tower, the Tri-State’s cancer patients have a new place to fight cancer close to home. The new inpatient oncology unit caters to the special needs of hospitalized cancer patients.
“Our mission is to make it so that people don’t feel the need to leave the region, to go somewhere else, for cancer care. You have excellent cancer care right in your neighborhood,” said Maria Tirona, MD, director of medical oncology at the Edwards Comprehensive Cancer Center.
The hospital’s new inpatient oncology unit moves into its home on the North Patient Tower’s fifth floor tomorrow, giving patients more individualized care and some of the best scenic views in the new $85 million facility.
The inpatient unit complements the Edwards Comprehensive Cancer Center, which is primarily designed to accommodate visits to physicians and outpatient procedures, such as chemotherapy and mammograms.
“This unit is a dedicated facility for both physicians and patients, so that we can provide a more comfortable environment and the most effective, best possible care,” Tirona said. “This is a pretty big winner in terms of taking care of patients who are already very challenged with their cancer.”
The unit that previously house inpatient oncology patients was shared with other patients as well, which sometimes posed a problem for oncology patients with compromised immune
systems. Dr. Tirona said the addition of a dedicated unit is paramount to the overall health of the hospital’s cancer patients.
“It is a smaller unit, but that is desirable for a unit such as this. It enables us to offer much more specialized care without worrying about other types of patients introducing infections into the environment,” she explained.
The unit is an extension of the surroundings and staff that oncology patients have grown to appreciate about the Edwards Comprehensive Cancer Center – both medically and aesthetically.
“When patients need outpatient care, they go to the Cancer Center, but we’re able to provide that next continuum by offering the inpatient unit,” said Molly Sarver, nurse manager of the unit. “Even though we are not physically right next door, we work very closely together and offer easy accessibility between the two facilities.”
Patients who come to the outpatient facility, but fall ill during their visit, or patients who require treatment or assistance on the weekends can rest easy knowing that the surroundings in the inpatient facility reflect those they’ve come to rely on during their outpatient treatment.
“We follow the same guidelines and policies, utilize the same physicians and have our own dedicated oncology nursing specialists just a s the Edwards Comprehensive Cancer Center does,” Sarver said. “Patients often get very close to the staff. We become like family, and we’re often going back and forth between the units visiting patients, keeping in touch. We get really attached to the patients.”
The 18 new rooms of the oncology unit are all private and much more spacious. Like the Cancer Center, the unit is decorated in soft, soothing colors and is bathed in natural light, with floor-to-ceiling windows. Each room features a family area with a pull-out bed. The unit also features many of the details common to the North Patient Tower, including private physician/family conference rooms and decentralized nursing stations between the rooms. The design of the floor provides easier access to patient rooms for the nursing staff.
“The rooms are easy to get to from any part of the unit and are much easier to work in because they’re much larger. They’re circular in design,” Sarver said. “Families have their own area in the room as well, with a couch and table that can be separated off by a privacy curtain.”
Rooms also offer their own bathrooms, as well as flat panel televisions and internet access. Outside the rooms, hallways are quieter thanks to carpeting. Families can enjoy access to a
nourishment center with coffee maker, ice and beverages. A dedicated waiting room and an all-glass sitting area were designed with families and visitors in mind.
The unit was also designed to help not only today’s patients, but tomorrow’s, as well. Four isolation rooms were specially created with positive airflow and HEPA filtration for patients with extremely compromised immune systems and, in the future, patients receiving high-dose chemotherapy and stem cell transplantation.
“This is a really big thing for us. Eventually, oncologists here are going to be able to utilize these rooms for stem cell patients,” Sarver said.
Tirona said the commitment of the hospital to cancer patients is encouraging to her as a physician.
“I’m very, very excited starting my seventh year to see this expansion. It’s a testament to Cabell Huntington Hospital and Marshall University’s strong and ongoing commitment to provide the best possible care in our field,” she said. “The inpatient oncology unit is an expansion of that commitment.”
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