A Common Vision: Quality Care As Close To Home As Possible
By now you’ve probably heard about the $2.0 million grant that Avera Queen of Peace has received from the Leona M. and Harry B. Helmsley Charitable Trust for cancer treatment and detection. What you may not have heard is how these funds came to Avera Queen of Peace in Mitchell, South Dakota. One of the Trustees of the Charitable Trust received medical care at Avera Queen of Peace and was impressed by the high-quality care his family received and Avera’s commitment to keep quality care as close to home as possible for their patients.
With the grant, the most advanced cancer technology available for detection and treatment of cancer will be brought to Avera Queen of Peace. A portion of the grant has funded the transition from analog to digital mammography and moved it from an inpatient to outpatient service in the Physicians Plaza. Digital mammography has many benefits including decreased exposure to radiation, fewer mammography repeats (because a digital image is viewed immediately) and greater contrast and clarity of the image being viewed. Breast cancer is one of the most common forms of cancer treated at the Avera Queen of Peace Cancer Center.
Another portion of the grant will fund Brachytherapy, a form of radiation delivered internally to a cancerous site through the implementation of radioactive seeds (Low-Dose Rate Brachytherapy) or through a catheter connected to a radioactive source (High-Dose Rate Brachytherapy). The advantages of Brachytherapy are shorter treatment times and fewer side effects because the radiation is targeted to more specific areas. A breast cancer patient could be treated over a period of 5 days compared with current radiation treatments taking closer to two months. A prostate cancer patient could expect to have fewer side effects, including less chance of impotence and incontinence, because of the precise targeting of radiation.
Most importantly, the grant will benefit patients by eliminating the need for them to travel outside of the Mitchell region for access to advanced technology that is currently offered at cancer facilities in larger population centers.
During this summer we’ll be offering a number of presentations on the advanced technology called “Brachytherapy” which will be introduced at the Avera Queen of Peace Cancer Center as a result of the grant. Please call me at the Avera Queen of Peace Foundation at (605) 995-5773 or e-mail me at geri.beck@averaqueenofpeace.org to find out more information.
We are grateful to the Leona M. and Harry B. Helmsley Charitable Trust for this remarkable gift and for the impact it will have on our patients and their families!
