August 5
August 5, 2008
Sarah Maria Domangue
August 7, 2008
Terrebonne General Medical Center is increasing its cancer treatment programs by adding services provided by the Baton Rouge-based nonprofit Mary Bird Perkins Cancer Center and the Houma-Thibodaux medical firm Cancer Care Specialists after the hospital signed an agreement with the two cancer treatment facilities, said Terrebonne General President Phyllis Peoples at a formal announcement ceremony last week.
The expanded cancer treatment services will be concentrated in one area of the Terrebonne General campus.
Integrating Mary Bird Perkins and Cancer Care Specialists into the hospital’s cancer treatment programs will take around 18 months.
“We’ve always had great cancer care here at TGMC,” Peoples said. “We’re establishing a one-stop shop center. Over the next 18 months, we’re establishing a uniform place for all the services we provide. We’ll have all the services we currently have, but we’ll have it in one package.”
For example, CT (computer tomography) scan services are currently available only inside a mobile unit.
“We want a fixed unit where inpatients can come and have CTs,” said Raul Doria, a physician partner with Cancer Care Specialists.
The 35-year-old Mary Bird Perkins Cancer Center has facilities in Baton Rouge, Hammond, Covington, Gonzales and now Houma.
Peoples described the cancer center as a “name brand.”
Donna Saurage, a member of the Mary Bird Perkin’s board, said the expanded programs at Terrebonne General will allow greater access to cancer treatment without having to leave the area.
“They can receive treatment at home (in Houma) around their friends and family,” she said. “We look forward to working in Terrebonne.”
The odds of getting cancer are no greater in Louisiana than elsewhere in the nation, said Todd Stevens, president of Mary Bird Perkins. However, once cancer is contracted, the chances of dying are higher in the state.
Peoples said Louisiana has the second highest death rate from cancer in the U.S.
“People have a lack of access to care,” she said. “They don’t utilize services. There’s a lack of educational awareness.”
Jerri Smitko, chairwoman of the Terrebonne General board, said that 9,000 of the 23,000 people contracting cancer in Louisiana this year will die from the disease.
Fortunately, an increasing number of patients are being cured of cancer with fewer side effects, said Mary Bird Perkins Medical Director Dr. Maurice King.
Terrebonne General first announced the possibility of adding outside cancer treatment programs in April.
Peoples said, “It’s been a long time in the making.”
