By: Chuck DeGooyer, TCCC CEO

2017 was another incredible year for your Tri-Cities Cancer Center and for our community who relies on us. Through great partnerships and region-wide support, we launched new programs, achieved a new accreditation, earned national recognition and engaged our community in cancer prevention and early detection initiatives to a greater extent than ever before.

In the spring of 2017, we launched our Survivorship Clinic, led by Lisa C.S. Rootvik, ARNP. The goal of this program is to help people enhance their quality of life after cancer treatment, while helping them avoid a recurrence of cancer. The survivorship plans developed through our Clinic are unique to each patient’s needs. These plans aid their primary care physician in providing the best post-treatment care with a definitive understanding of their unique needs. Survivorship is a milestone accomplishment and a visit to our Clinic helps patients enjoy a fuller life after cancer.

In May, we were granted a three-year accreditation by the National Accreditation Program for Breast Centers (NAPBC), a program administered by the American College of Surgeons. Accreditation by the NAPBC is only given to centers that voluntarily commit to provide the highest quality breast cancer care and undergo a rigorous evaluation process and review of their performance. Our NAPBC accredited Breast Center is a collaborative effort between the Tri-Cities Cancer Center, Kadlec, Lourdes Health, and Trios Health. Over 30 area physicians and ancillary staff, specializing in breast cancer, continually partner across our four organizations to provide world-class breast cancer care.

For the second time in three years, the Tri-Cities Cancer Center was named one of the Best Places to Work in Healthcare by Modern Healthcare Magazine. In 2016, our team was recognized as the first cancer center in the nation to achieve APEx Accreditation, which focuses on safety for patients and staff as well as quality of care in the delivery of radiation therapy. Combine our APEx and NAPBC accreditations with our Best Places to Work in Healthcare recognition and it becomes understandable why we continually hear, ‘It’s the people’ that make the Tri-Cities Cancer Center extraordinary.

In the fall, we expanded our integrative oncology offerings by opening our Naturopathic Clinic with Dr. Lindsey Josephson. Dr. Josephson guides patients in the use of natural therapies while receiving cancer treatment. These therapies help reduce the side effects of chemotherapy and/or radiation treatment during and after treatment. They also help reduce the risk of cancer recurrence. This is one more way we are providing leading-edge care, right here at home.

In November, we launched a workplace wellness program called Cancer Crushing Executives. Our program promotes evidence-based practices to keep employees healthy by targeting the leading causes of cancer-related death. We have partnered with the University of Washington, the Washington State Department of Health, and the most senior leaders from 23 of the region’s largest employers to deliver this program. These leaders have made a commitment to improve the health and wellness of their employees. Collectively, these organizations represent 30,000 employees. And when you consider the employees’ families, this program has the potential to directly affect 100,000 lives. Now that is community impact.

2018 promises to be an even more impactful year as we work to prevent more cancers, find them earlier when we have the best opportunity for cure, grow our world-class cancer care offerings, and provide for the Survivorship needs of
our community.

We are thankful for our many strong community partnerships and the trust you have in us. You are the difference maker in all that we do.

We are YOUR Tri-Cities Cancer Center.