TGMC Perkins Center credited for quality care

Tina Callais thought cancer was something that happened to other people – not her. She learned differently. She also learned that top quality care is not limited to being found in large cities.

For Callais, 50, local diagnosis and treatment was more than she expected and all she could hope for at the Terrebonne General Medical Center Mary Bird Perkins Cancer Center.

It was on June 1, 2008, that Callais was diagnosed with Stage 3 breast cancer. “I did not expect it. I did the whole regiment of things, the mammograms, exercise and still wound up with breast cancer,” she said. “I found the lump. It was very surprising.”

As an experienced broadcast journalist, Callais found it not only necessary, but also natural to begin studying about her condition.

“My first research was to find an oncologist that I would make my first contact with,” Callais said. Through social networks she was able to make those contacts and begin her journey to treatment.

“Once we discussed it, we decided my line of treatment should be chemo radiation [so] I got online,” Callais said. “There are these university-based cancer centers and these [independent] cancer centers in other states that get written up in magazines. I looked at their general treatment plans and I found out that their treatment plans were pretty much what was lined out at Mary Bird Perkins.”

After discussing the options with her husband, Corey, the couple decided to make use of the treatment available close to home.

Mary Bird Perkins Cancer Center was founded 40 years ago. In addition to the Houma location, there are centers in Baton Rouge, Covington, Hammond and Gonzales.

Mary Bird Perkins Cancer Center at TGMC is a full service cancer care facility. Programs are designed to address prevention and early detection to diagnosis, treatment, recovery and survivorship. When necessary its offerings include surgery, chemotherapy and radiation therapy, as well as advanced resources, support services, and resources including medical physics expertise, diagnostic imaging, pathology, clinical research and nutrition and social services.

Services offered by Mary Bird Perkins Cancer Center at TGMC include chemotherapy, flow cytometry, digital mammography, magnetic resonance imaging, image guided biopsy, breast biopsy ultrasound, and breast specific gamma imaging as well as several other imaging services.

State-of-the-art comprehensive radiation therapy includes image guided high-energy linear accelerator, advanced intensity modulated radiation therapy treatment capability, image guided radiation therapy treatment capability, positron emission tomography, computed tomography capability, sophisticated planning stations, as well as physics and dosimetry quality assurance instrumentation and software.

Mary Bird Perkins Cancer Center at TGMC, is a nationally accredited cancer program recognized for excellence in cancer care by the American College of Surgeons Commission on Cancer, and renowned in the region for providing high quality cancer care. The Houma center opened in 2008 and has been part of an overall TGMC expansion.

In a printed statement by Mary Bird Perkins CEO Todd D. Stevens, the network of cancer centers is identified as serving 18 Louisiana parishes. He credited the system’s success to local community involvement. “At its heart, Mary Bird Perkins is a volunteer driven organization,” Stevens said in appreciation of not only staff, but those who often give back to the center following their own experiences. “We couldn’t do what we do without our volunteers and donors, and the many communities that support our mission.”

One expression of support offered to the center this month was a $1 million donation from 22-year throat cancer survivor and former Mary Bird Perkins patient Thomas J. “T.J.” Moran. He is among many that have expressed the benefits of having this health care option close to home.

“[For me] it would not have been convenient to travel to Houston or Atlanta or New York, and I wasn’t convinced I was going to get a different treatment plan at that point,” Callais said. “This was right here, and they had all the same equipment, and I wasn’t one of thousands there as far as patients. You have a personal relationship that is more community based.”

In addition to physical treatments, Callais said that having cancer support groups and educational opportunities available with Mary Bird Perkins was a plus for her. “Thinking I was getting the same treatment wasn’t where it ended. It far exceeded my expectations,” she said.

Treatments began within two weeks of diagnosis for Callais and she completed chemotherapy in October 2010. “Today I’m good,” she said. “That’s all I can ever say because cancer is one of those things that you don’t know. Everything looks clear for now and it looks hopeful.”

“[TGMC] was eager to partner with Mary Bird Perkins Cancer Center in order to bring a new level of cancer care to the people of our region,” said TGMC CEO Phyllis Peoples. “[Our] new cancer alliance, along with the physicians of cancer care specialists formed Mary Bird Perkins Cancer Center at TGMC and is providing a comprehensive, multidisciplinary cancer program which coordinates the entire continuum of cancer care.”

“The adage is if you survive five years you are cancer free, but you never really know if you are really cancer free,” Callais said. “So you eat healthy and live healthy. See your doctor like you are supposed to and be an advocate for yourself.”

Callais said there is no way to know without a doubt what her future holds, except that she knows Mary Bird Perkins Cancer Center is her choice for treatment toward maintaining her health.

Tina Callais says becoming her own advocate led her to getting necessary treatment at the Mary Bird Perkins Cancer Center, where program manager Dan Vincent leads his staff by keeping detailed watch on patient conditions and progress. MIKE NIXON