How We Serve the Region
Pulaski Community Hospital put a whole new spin on the idea of community when it opened its New River Valley Cancer Care Center.
When you consider that this cancer treatment facility is the only comprehensive Cancer Care Center between Salem and Bristol, and Bluefield and Winston-Salem, the "community" that the Center serves encompasses the entire region.
Since its opening, New River Valley Cancer Care Center has become a premier source for diagnosis and treatment in the entire area.
Its convenient, centralized location makes for easy patient access, reducing the need to drive long distances for treatment. And since family and friends don't have to spend hours on the road to be with their loved ones, it's easier for them to be at the patient's side, providing the positive emotional environment so important for healing.
Their support, together with the sophisticated treatment procedures, therapies and technologies, and the skilled, caring physicians, nurses and therapists of New River Valley Cancer Care Center, are vital in the treatment and recovery process.
In addition to comprehensive chemotherapy capabilities, the Cancer Care Center is equipped with state-of-the-art radiation treatment technology, including a dual-energy Varian 21EX Linear Accelerator with digital imaging, multi-leaf collimation and IMRT capabilities. An ADAC 3D treatment planning system and the Varian Ximatron make designing the best therapy regimen a more accurate process. And the Center also offers advanced "seed implant" technology for the treatment of prostate cancer. This treatment method utilizes tiny radioactive "seeds" to deliver measured doses directly to the tumor. New River Valley Cancer Care Center was the first to offer this procedure in Southwest Virginia.
Responsible for maintaining the entire cancer care program for the benefit of the Center's patients, is its multi-disciplinary medical team. The Cancer Committee's members represent Surgery, Medical and Radiation Oncology, Radiology, Pathology, Internal Medicine, Family Practice, Obstetrics/Gynecology, and Oncology Nursing.
The Tumor Board meets monthly to provide multidisciplinary review and input for selected cases. All active members of the medical staff are invited to attend. A major purpose of these meetings is to review treatment goals and achievements. The outcome can be of significant value as a "second opinion" to guide patients and their physicians.
There's more to New River Valley Cancer Care Center's commitment to the community than ease of access and advanced treatment. Its dynamic outreach program has two major objectives. The first is to help detect cancer before it has reached an advanced stage. The second is to provide intensive post-treatment follow-up support to patients.
The other crucial part of New River Valley Cancer Care Center's community outreach is its extremely active Support Group program. In addition to maintaining contact with patients after the completion of their treatment, the Center provides a wide range of ongoing specialized support groups. These groups are not only for patients, but for their "personal support teams" made up of family and friends.
The Breast Cancer support group meets at the Center on the 3rd Tuesday of each month and the "Reaching Out" support group for survivors of all types of cancer meets at the Center on the 2nd Tuesday.
New River Valley Cancer Care Center also works closely with the American Cancer Society to sponsor the "Man-To-Man Prostate Support Group," on the first Thursday of the month, and the "Look Good, Feel Better" cosmetics program which meets bi-monthly on a varying schedule.
Another vital aspect of New River Valley Cancer Care Center's community outreach is its public information program. Together with parent, Pulaski Community Hospital, it publishes a monthly calendar of events, including dates, times and locations of support group meetings and of free screenings. It also provides public information advertisements focusing on the prevention, detection and treatment of various commonly occurring types of cancer. Cancers of the skin, prostate, cervix and breast have all been discussed.
Readers are advised to help prevent skin cancer and avoid many other skin problems, such as premature aging, by limiting exposure to the sun and using a good sunscreen. They're alerted to pay attention to warning signs. Unexplained skin changes, especially skin regularly exposed to the sun, blemishes or moles that appear to grow for no reason, bruises or scrapes that won't heal, or any other type of persistent discoloration or growth - all can be cause to suspect skin cancer.
Women are advised to have annual Pap Smear screenings to detect cervical cancer, a type of cancer that often gives no symptoms or warnings until it is firmly established. They are also urged to follow the simple, three-step breast protection program. It begins with monthly breast self-examination, followed by an annual physician examination, and for women over age 40 or who have a family history of breast cancer, an annual physician examination and a mammogram.
And men suffering from prostate problems are urged to see their doctor. They are also invited to take advantage of the Cancer Care Center's free screening.
Most of all, New River Valley Cancer Care Center encourages regular physician consultation and examinations as the first line of defense against all types of cancer. And it provides a toll free MedLine
1(888)633-9944, for information about services and physicians.
Throughout the New River Valley, the Cancer Care Center of choice for convenience, expert treatment, and warm, neighborly care is the New River Valley Cancer Care Center of Pulaski Community Hospital.
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