2001 Oncology Report

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Program Services cont'd

• Oncology Clinic
      The Sumter Regional Hospital Hematology/Oncology clinic is a joint venture conducted by Sumter Regional Hospital and Phoebe Putney Memorial Hospital.
      The goal of this service is to offer comprehensive Oncology/Hematology outpatient care in the geographical area closest to the patient’s residence. The clinic provides the administration of chemotherapy agents, blood transfusions, phlebotomy, antibiotic therapy; intravenous fluid therapy and central venous access line care.
      The bi-weekly clinic is conducted by Dr. John T. Duelge and Dr. Robert Krywicki, board certified physicians from the Phoebe Cancer Center, and staffed by Sumter Regional Hospital personnel. Medical Oncology nurses are registered nurses, oriented, tested and documented as being competent in the administration of antineoplastic agents by Phoebe Oncology clinical specialists and certified in chemotherapy by oncology nursing society. SRH oncology nurses provide excellent service to the patient while promoting continuity of care.
• Pastoral Care
    Pastoral care at Sumter Regional Hospital is an inter-faith program developed and carried out by volunteer chaplains who assure every patient, their family, and every employee that spiritual support is available to them while in the hospital.
  
    Pastoral Care at SRH includes services to patients with cancer diagnoses and their families in the following ways:
  •  After an initial contact with an oncology patient, this patient becomes a case that is followed through the course of treatment after discharge, as needed.
  •  Patients are aided in contacting their pastor or other leaders in their denominational or religious preference. A chaplain usually follows the cases as well as the family’s own spiritual advisor, per the patient’s request.
  •  Outpatients who use the Oncology Clinic are seen on a referral basis
  
    Hospice services include in-home pastoral care visits by a staff chaplain and a bereavement support group.
• Pathology Services
    The Pathology department at Sumter Regional Hospital offers a full range of clinical and anatomic pathology services, which are integrated with the Cancer Program at SRH. The services include initial diagnosis, classification and staging of tumors as well as providing essential data for monitoring the effectiveness of the treatment program. In addition to the standard diagnostic techniques including frozen sections and fine needle aspiration biopsies
  available in the laboratories, many reference tests are available including estrogen/progesterone receptor assays, DNA cell cycle analysis, extreme drug resistance assays and tumor markers studies. In addition to a wide variety of clinical lab tests, the lab offers in-house immunohistochemical tests for a number of tumor agents.
    Our laboratory is accredited by the State of Georgia, the Joint Commission on Accreditation of Healthcare Organizations (JCAHO), and by the College of American Pathologists (CAP), which has the most rigorous standards in the laboratory industry. The lab is committed to community health, cancer prevention and cancer diagnosis and treatment.
• Pharmacy
    The Pharmacy department provides all medications needed by oncology patients at SRH. The major role of the
  pharmacy staff is to ensure that all doses of chemotherapy medications are properly prepared. The pharmacy also provides education regarding the drugs to the oncology staff and patients as needed. All chemotherapy drugs are prepared under a biological safety cabinet. There are currently six pharmacists and seven pharmacy technicians on staff.
• Rehabilitative Medicine
    The Rehabilitative Medicine department includes three disciplines of care. These disciplines are Physical Therapy, Occupational Therapy and Speech Therapy.
    Physical Therapy assists cancer patients by establishing individualized rehabilitation programs consisting of therapeutic exercise programs, manual therapy and heat and cold modalities to restore loss of function.
    Occupational Therapy utilizes activities of daily living training and hand therapy in conjunction with heat and cold modalities to restore lost function.
     Speech Therapy is available to assist patients with swallowing disorders, which may be the result of
  complications from treatment. They also offer esophageal speech therapy for patients who have prostheses from laryngeal carcinoma, and deep pharyngeal nerve stimulation therapy.
• Volunteer Auxiliary
   While cancer patients need comprehensive treatment from a variety of qualified people, another group also offers care. The Sumter Regional Hospital Auxiliary members volunteer hours each week working throughout the Oncology Clinic. These extra helping hands run errands, minister to patients, and perform any other services they are asked to do.
    Several auxilians are cancer survivors and request to work in this area. Since many have walked this walk and received such excellent care, they desire to give something back. These volunteers know how important it is to listen to a patient�s concerns, and see a smiling face.
    We simply could not provide all our services efficiently without our volunteers. Our volunteers offer that extra attention that our patients and their loved ones need. There is never a day that goes by that we don�t hear one of our staff or patients compliment at least one of our volunteers. We appreciate each and every one of them.