C A N C E R
C A R E
J
ust as high-tech medical advances are making chemotherapy more effective at fighting cancer, low-tech tactics
are providing a more comfortable experience for patients
during treatment sessions.
"Gone are the years of 'chemo wards' with open
rooms with many patients on gurneys hooked to gray IV poles,"
says Dr. Don Jurgens, who is medical oncology section leader
at St. Cloud Hospital, St. Cloud, Minn. "All of the changes [in
patient contact areas at the hospital], from architectural layouts
to fabric choices on lobby chairs, were made with significant
input from actual patients."
"Now the idea is to make [chemotherapy treatment]
environments more friendly and warmer places to be," agrees
Dr. Dolores Olivarez, a medical oncologist and hematologist at Schneck Medical Center in Seymour, Ind. "They are
created to be more like home and less businesslike. This is
particularly important for chemo patients, because the patient
spends a lot of time at the facility."
Getting
comfortable
By Danielle Toth
New approaches
to chemotherapy
20
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