David Walsh Cancer Center Video

Banner Health: Collaborative Cancer Care - Full Transcription

Text: Collaborative Cancer Care
David Walsh Cancer Center, Sterling Regional MedCenter

[Logo]  Banner Health
 
Text: Michelle Joy, CEO
Sterling Regional MedCenter

Image: Michelle Joy speaks on- off-camera throughout video.

Audio:  “Two-and-a-half years ago, we started on an amazing journey to build a state-of-the-art Cancer Center here in Sterling. From day one of that journey, we knew that we would have to take an innovative approach to bring quality cancer care to the real community of Sterling, Colorado to serve all of Northeastern Colorado.”

Images: Exterior photo of Sterling Regional MedCenter and various interior images of medical staff, at work, within the Center Plaque on wall of Cancer Center that reads:

In honor of Frank and Gloria Walsh for their generous contributions in bringing comprehensive cancer services to Northeastern Colorado,
This facility is dedicated to their son. David Walsh 1954 - 1998

Audio:  “Three factors that have been key to our success in opening this program starts with: one, the family that made an $8.8 million donation for the building and equipment and everything that you see within the Cancer Center. The second factor in that is the people that work in the Cancer Center. They’re the ones that are providing quality care on a daily basis to our patients here. And the third factor is the technology”

Image: Michelle Joy continues on-camera

Audio:  “On the people piece of that, we knew that we would not be able to support a full-time radiation oncologist or a dosimetrist or provide the physicist support here in Sterling to make the program a success. So what we were able to do was leverage the expertise within Banner Health through North Colorado Medical Center in Greeley.”

Image:  Exterior image of North Colorado Medical Center in Greeley, Colorado

Audio:  “For this program, we have our radiation oncologists that come from Greeley and Loveland with McKee Medical Center.”

Image:  Michelle Joy, on-camera

Audio:  “And then we have the dosimetrists and physicists based out of Greeley along with a large group of other support staff from NCMC that service the Cancer Center here in Sterling. We have two radiation therapists and a nurse practitioner that are full time, in Sterling, to be able to work with the team from Greeley.”

Text:  Patrick Schooley, Radiation Therapy Supervisor
David Walsh Cancer Center

Image:  Patrick Schooley speaks on-camera

Audio:  “One of the great things about having these three facilities in Northern Colorado is that we can share services. We share physician services. We share physicists’ services. They’ve set up, they’ve designed it, so that we’re doing things—the processes are all the same. The equipment is virtually identical so it allows us to share staff. ”

Images: David Walsh Cancer Center’s state-of-the-art equipment
Michelle Joy speaks off- an-camera.

Michelle Joy Audio:  “The other factor that we needed to take an innovative approach on was the technology piece. Because that support staff and the radiation oncologist are not based in Sterling, what we needed to do was figure out how to set up the technology so that all of the treatment planning, protocols, all of the reviews of the care plans, everything could be done in Greeley and then sent out to Sterling for our radiation therapist to provide the actual treatment..”

Images: Patrick Schooley, off- and on-camera, continues
Medical staff observes treatment to patient from satellite location

Audio:  “It is innovative in that we are using the advanced technology so that we can treat patients safely but we can treat them without the physician necessarily being here. Two days ago we had an emergency case, which doesn’t happen too often in therapy but it did—our very first cord compression—and coincidentally, we had our tumor board at seven in the morning and one of the physicians who was there said to our doctor, ‘I’ve got this case with an eroded spine. What can we do?’

Text:  Brian Fuller, MD, Radiation Oncologist
North Colorado Medical Center Cancer Institute

Text:    Live Two-Way conference between Greeley and Sterling
Image: Footage of conference

Dr. Fuller Audio:  “It was very clear that that patient needed emergent services and I was able to see her within an hour. We were able to get a CT scan in Sterling within about an hour after that. And the patient’s data was sent here to Greeley. And within a half-an-hour after that, a radiation oncology plan was back in Sterling for me to review.”

Image:  Patrick Schooley continues on-camera

Audio:  “That data had been sent from Sterling to Greeley. The dosimetrist got on it right away. They went ahead and created a very nice plan, sends it back to us. By later that afternoon, we had her first treatment in. So it was exactly the way that it was supposed to work.”

Text:  Helene Christner, Nurse practitioner
David Walsh Cancer Center

Image:  Helene Christner speaks on-camera

Audio:  “So between the two facilities, we come together to put one treatment plan for this patient and allow them to have a choice of coming here or going there.”

Text:  Shirley Mertens
Sterling, CO

Image:  Shirley Mertens speaks on-camera

Audio:  “I was diagnosed with stage 3 breast cancer: mastectomy followed by chemotherapy, and then I was ready for radiation. Just before that time, the Cancer Center opened. Therefore, we were able to come into Sterling, which was a 15-minute drive, rather than going to Greeley, which is a 90-minute drive.”

Text:  Kim Johnson
Yuma, CO

Images: Kim Johnson speaks on- and off-camera
Inviting/relaxing/homey public areas and artful hallways within the Center

Audio:  “When I found out that I would be needing cancer treatment, the thought of having to drive to the Front Range every day made a stressful situation even more stressful. When you walk in the door, you know immediately—you’re greeted with a smile—but just walking into the place, you feel comfortable. There’s a fire going in the waiting room and you feel the warmth as you walk in. The whole building just flows. The artwork on the walls, the colors that are chosen is real comforting.”

Images: Interior and Exterior images of Banner Health’s David Walsh Cancer Center, Sterling Regional MedCenter
Michelle Joy speaks off- and on-camera

Audio:  “It’s amazing to see the success of the Cancer Center since we’ve opened in October. The David Walsh Cancer Center is a true example of what it means to be a part of Banner Health, leveraging the resources within Banner Health, both from a technology and a people perspective, and taking a very innovative approach to bring quality cancer care to a rural community like Sterling. It has truly been a blessing for this community and our patients in Northeastern Colorado to be able to stay close to home for quality cancer care.”