About a year ago, I used this space to thank­ the many Central Oregon businesses that stepped up to support St. Charles during the early months of the pandemic. Though some were struggling themselves, they donated food and beverages and services and other goodies, all in an effort to comfort and celebrate the frontline caregivers working so hard to take care of people in such an uncertain environment.

At the time, it felt like we were all going to get through this, together. And we will. But a year later, it also feels like we are in the same boat as we were a year ago. Worse, it feels like we are not all rowing in the same direction anymore.

That is discouraging, but I can assure you that St. Charles’ caregivers are rowing as hard as they ever have. Their strength, determination and dedication to the communities we serve inspires me every single day.

I say all that to say this: Local businesses across Central Oregon are still out there supporting St. Charles, even though the spotlight has moved on. Every week, I am made aware of some generous and thoughtful gesture toward our caregivers from within the local community, and every time I am heartened because I know that our caregivers are heartened as well.

It would be impossible for me to try to name them all, because I would inevitably forget some. Instead, I am just going to name one as an example: As we speak, our longtime local partners at Mid Oregon Credit Union are working with the St. Charles Foundation on a plan to provide meals to many caregivers across several departments. They’re not doing it for attention, or even a thank you. They’re doing it because they are a part of this community, and they know the people working so hard inside our hospitals are their neighbors and friends and relatives. They also know that even something as modest as having dinner already made can feel like a lifeline after a very busy day on the front line of a deadly pandemic.

So thank you, Mid Oregon Credit Union, for your generosity and for caring about our people. And if you are part of a business that has reached out to help at any point over the past 18 months, please know that we appreciate you, too. I am grateful that St. Charles is part of such an incredible and supportive community.

A lot of things have changed over the past year, but one thing remains absolutely true: We will get through this, and it will be easier if we work together than if we’re divided.

This week, school children across Central Oregon are heading back to class, just as the highly transmissible Delta variant of COVID-19 is fueling a record number of infections and hospitalizations across the region.

And although Oregon Gov. Kate Brown has mandated vaccination for teachers and mandated indoor masking for kids, pediatric physicians at St. Charles say there is reason to be concerned about a recent surge in the number of pediatric COVID cases in the area.

In total, St. Charles has recorded 183 pediatric visits to the Emergency Department for COVID-19, including 45 in August alone – the most in any single month during the pandemic. Hospitalizations remain low – 35 total – but they seem to be rising, too, said Dr. Scott Olson, a pediatric hospitalist with St. Charles.

“Nationally, as the Delta variant has become more prevalent, we’ve seen the rate of hospitalization increase among children,” Olson said. “Early estimates placed pediatric hospitalizations somewhere around one in every 100 COVID infections. Over the past several months, that rate has jumped up closer to one in 50.”

Olson, a father of two young children, said he is personally concerned that the start of the school year could worsen the situation locally – both for kids and the community as a whole.

“I don’t know that we can define a trend, but we know from data in other parts of the country where school has restarted that they are seeing a significant increase in symptomatic disease in children,” he said. “On an individual basis, the risk of hospitalization for infected children is low. But infected children can spread the disease, and that’s a major concern from a hospital capacity standpoint.”

COVID vaccines are approved for children ages 12 and older but only about half of eligible kids in Central Oregon have been vaccinated. For kids under 12, Olson and another St. Charles pediatric hospitalist (and mother of three school-aged children), Dr. Suzanne Mendez, suggest these five tips for parents to follow to help protect their children this school year:

1. Mask up.

“Universal masking is key to preventing transmission of COVID in schools. All kids over the age of 2 should wear a mask that fits well over their mouth and nose when they’re inside,” said Mendez, “and also when they’re outside and within six feet of another person who doesn’t live in their household.”

If you’d like to read more about masks and kids, Mendez suggests reading this brief from the Centers for Disease Control, this article from the Washington Post and this information from medRxiv.

2. Go outside.

“Encourage your child to be outside when they’re playing with friends, when they’re eating lunch, and during recess,” Mendez said. “This is good advice anytime, but especially right now.”

3. Get vaccinated.

Children’s hospitals like the one at the University of California at San Francisco are finding that the children who require hospitalization are either older unvaccinated children or younger children who live with unvaccinated adults.

“If parents can be vaccinated, they should be. If they aren’t, they should get vaccinated, and they should get their kids who are 12 and older vaccinated, too,” Mendez said. “A recent study showed that more than 6.2 million people who received either the Pfizer or Moderna vaccines had no increase in serious health outcomes, with more than 11.8 million doses given.”

4. Practice COVID safety outside of school as well.

“You can tell your kids to do this or do that, but you want to make sure to model those behaviors for them, too,” Mendez said. “If you go out as a family, avoid large crowds without masks and eat outside whenever possible, especially if you’re eating with others who don’t live in your household.”

Parents should also carefully consider potential exposures their children have to other people outside of school, Mendez said, such as sleepovers, indoor birthday parties and indoor play areas.

5. Stay home when sick.

“Again, this goes for parents and kids: If you’re experiencing illness or your child is ill, please don’t go to work or send them to school. Stay home and call your primary care provider instead,” Mendez said. “We have seen a variety of presentations of COVID in children – from runny noses to headaches – so if you have a sick child, please keep them home and call your pediatrician to talk about testing for COVID if you are concerned.”

In general, symptoms experienced by young COVID patients at St. Charles include fevers, cough, nasal congestion, muscle aches, headaches, and labored breathing, Olson said. There are no pediatric ICUs in the region, so local children who require advanced care for respiratory failure or who develop a post-inflammatory syndrome after COVID infection are transferred to children’s hospitals in Portland or out of state.

If you’re a regular reader of St. Charles’ monthly e-newsletter, you know that in this space I usually spend a few million pixels talking about something that’s happening at the health system – an exciting new service, important community partnerships, our incredible caregivers, goals for the future.

And more often than I’d like over the past year and a half: the COVID-19 pandemic.

This month is going to be different, however. This month, I want to point you to the other things in this newsletter, just in case you skipped over them. They’re that important.

• Read this article about the significant issues our hospitals are facing right now with regard to patient capacity, and how some of the cascading effects of the pandemic brought us to this point.
• Watch this video, which features our infectious disease expert, Dr. Cynthia Maree, answering questions about the ultra-transmissible Delta variant of COVID-19, which is now the dominant strain of the virus in Central Oregon.
• Plan to attend our virtual town hall at noon on Tuesday, Aug. 10, where health system leadership will talk about the many challenges we are facing. This is happening on Facebook Live, but anyone can attend and all are invited. Click here to attend.

Last but certainly not least, I want to urge you to get vaccinated if you are not already, and to wear a mask in indoor public spaces and crowded outdoor spaces, even if you are vaccinated. Remember: You got vaccinated to protect yourself. Now, you wear a mask to protect those who are not vaccinated – including our children.

I’m sure that you are ready to be done with this pandemic. So am I. But it is not done with us, unfortunately. Please stay informed, stay safe and know that we here at St. Charles are doing everything we can to navigate this and serve our communities.

Sincerely,
Joe

At St. Charles Bend, August of 2021 is starting to look more and more like December 2020, when a major surge of COVID-19 patients strained the facility’s resources.

This time, though, the strain is more severe, and it is being felt at hospitals across the state, said Dr. Jeff Absalon, St. Charles’ chief physician officer.

Health system officials fear the situation is only going to get worse.

“Our hospitals are in crisis,” said Aaron Adams, president of St. Charles Bend and Redmond. “We want to take care of people, but right now, we need their help.”

In the past few weeks, St. Charles has been forced to cancel many peoples’ much-needed surgeries to make room for the seriously ill. Still, the hospital is over capacity: inpatient beds are full, and as of Thursday, 17 people were “boarding” in the Emergency Department, which means they have been admitted to the hospital, but they are stuck in the ED while they wait for an inpatient bed to open up.

This overflow is taxing the Bend Emergency Department, which has 28 exam rooms – 17 of which are taken by boarders. As a result, ED caregivers are seeing patients in makeshift areas such as hallways and waiting rooms.

“I said in May we were dealing with the most critical capacity issues in my 27 years at St. Charles,” said Debbie Robinson, the hospital’s chief nursing officer. “It has only gotten worse in the past three months.”

Part of the problem is a new surge of COVID-19 patients, driven by the arrival of the ultra-transmissible Delta variant to Central Oregon. This week, St. Charles’ medical director of infectious disease and prevention, Dr. Cynthia Maree, said she believes greater than 95% of COVID-19 infections in the region are due to Delta.

With mask mandates lifted and more people gathering in groups, the Delta variant is spreading rapidly among the estimated 65,000 people in Central Oregon who are either unvaccinated or who have not been exposed to the virus. And people who are exposed to the Delta variant are generally getting sicker than those who were exposed to the original strain of COVID-19. Accordingly, hospitalizations are on the rise: Earlier this week, there were 37 COVID-positive patients at St. Charles Bend, the highest number since mid-June.

The latest COVID surge is not the only factor in the current crisis, but the pandemic has undeniably disrupted health care in profound and lasting ways, some of which are also contributing to the strain:

• Especially during the early months of COVID-19, many people were unable to access routine and preventive health care services. The result is hospitals around the country are busier than ever treating a higher-than-normal number of patients who are seriously ill.
• It’s not just illness, it’s injuries, too. Central Oregon is growing fast, and as it does, more people are getting hurt here. In the past, the health system has typically averaged about 1,200 trauma visits per year. In 2021, it’s on pace to hit 1,600.
• At the same time hospitals are seeing more and sicker patients, they are also struggling to shore up their workforce. It has become difficult to replace health care workers at the same rate they are leaving the industry due to early retirements and burn out. And locally, the increasing cost of housing is proving to be a major barrier for potential hires.
• Health care is an ecosystem in which physician offices, hospitals, skilled nursing facilities and other kinds of health care providers interact and depend on one another. Hospitals are struggling to discharge patients who need skilled nursing care because those facilities, too, do not have enough beds and caregivers to meet the high demand for care. On Thursday, St. Charles had 37 patients in the hospital waiting for placement in an appropriate facility.

“This is bigger than COVID,” Absalon said. “There is a cascading effect that is causing incredible strain on the health system.”

That cascading effect is trickling down to the community.

“We need to stress: This impacts you,” Absalon said. (Yes, he means you.) “You need to take care of your health. Eat well. Make sure to exercise your body. Take your medication as prescribed. See your primary care provider and stay on track with your checkups and preventive screenings.”

And with regard to COVID-19, the message has not changed much as compared to earlier in the pandemic, he said.

“This is not going away anytime soon. I know people are tired of masks, but with the Delta variant’s transmissibility, everyone really should be wearing masks in indoor public spaces and crowded outdoor public spaces. And, of course, if you’re not vaccinated, please get vaccinated as soon as possible,” Absalon said. “We’ll work as hard as we can to continue to care for everyone who comes through our doors, and at the same time, we hope everyone out there will work as hard as they can to stay healthy.”

At St. Charles, our vision is both ambitious and simple: “Creating America’s healthiest community, together.”

Every day, we're making progress toward achieving that goal, and that progress takes many different forms: We've launched virtual visits to allow patients to see their physician from the comfort of their home. We've built new clinics, rolled out new services and upgraded patient care spaces in our hospitals. We host events and classes for people interested in healthier living. We've brought the latest technology to rural areas. We continue to hire only the most skilled caregivers to provide this region’s superior patient care. The list goes on and on.

Sometimes, though, the best thing St. Charles can do to improve health and health care in Central Oregon is to support our partner organizations doing good work in the communities we serve. That's what we're doing in Prineville, where we donated $100,000 toward Crook County Fire & Rescue's purchase of two new, much-needed ambulances that will reduce back strain for their EMTs and make both patients and EMTs safer and more secure during transport. St. Charles is proud to partner with the fire district to help it provide excellent emergency services in Crook County.

Also, we recently announced we’re contributing $400,000 to Partners in Care to support the construction of a 12-bed specialty hospital called Hospice House that's designed for hospice patients who need short-term care for advanced, life-limiting illness in a home-like environment. The organization is in the middle of a $6 million fundraising campaign to build Hospice House, which will replace its current six-bed facility. St. Charles' gift will help them pass the $4 million mark of that campaign.

St. Charles’ relationship with Partners in Care dates back to 1979, when former St. Charles president and CEO Sister Catherine Hellmann championed hospice care in our region. In honor of her legacy, the new Hospice House's chapel will be dedicated to Sister Catherine, whose philosophy of caring for all still guides much of what we do at St. Charles.

The contribution to Partners in Care is being made jointly by the St. Charles Foundation and the health system's Community Benefit Program. The donation to Crook County Fire & Rescue is also part of the Community Benefit Program, which we use to support local organizations and services that improve the health of Central Oregonians. In both cases, we identified a local partner that is doing good work and has a specific need, and we worked together to find a way for St. Charles to help meet that need.

There's that word again: together. It's part of our vision statement for a reason, and it's an important piece of the complex puzzle of caring for the people and the communities of Central Oregon.

Sincerely,
Joe

For the first time since the start of the pandemic, St. Charles Health System is offering a treatment to help people with mild to moderate COVID-19 fight off the disease and, hopefully, avoid hospitalization.

The treatment uses monoclonal antibodies to mimic the immune system’s natural antibodies, which fight back against harmful antigens such as viruses. Whereas the body takes time to produce natural antibodies, monoclonal antibody treatment allows a sick person to fight the virus earlier, which may prevent them from getting sicker and needing to be hospitalized.

Currently, monoclonal antibody treatment is only available to people who are at high risk of becoming severely ill from COVID-19, and they cannot self-refer themselves for the treatment. A physician must make the referral, and infusion would ideally be administered within three days of a positive COVID-19 test or within 10 days of symptom onset.

The potential benefits of the treatment are well worth navigating the logistical challenges, said Dr. Cynthia Maree, St. Charles’ Medical Director of Infectious Disease.

“Right now, this is the only medication we have that is approved under Emergency Use Authorization to be used for outpatient management of COVID-19,” she said. “It has the possibility of keeping people with COVID-19 from developing severe disease or from dying. Obviously, that’s something we want to be able to provide to the community.” 

Caregivers from the St. Charles Bend Pulmonary Clinic are working in collaboration with nurses in Redmond, where the infusions are performed in an area away from other patients and visitors to protect vulnerable people. The health system worked to identify the right personnel to staff the clinic and provided training to ensure they were prepared to safely treat the patients, Maree said.

“We needed to figure out how to get people identified, referred, evaluated and scheduled pretty rapidly,” Maree said. “The therapies may change over time based on variants and which antibodies are recommended, but now that we have a process in place, we plan to continue offering this until something comes along that’s easier to administer or more effective.”

The clinic has treated its first patient and it went “very smoothly,” Maree said, thanks in large part to the St. Charles caregivers who worked hard to overcome logistical hurdles and bring monoclonal antibody treatments to Central Oregon.

“There was a gap in access to this treatment in our community, so we wanted to make sure to fill that gap,” Maree said. “We’re excited to be up and running and we’re looking forward to helping people get better.”

Click here to learn more about St. Charles Pulmonary Clinic’s monoclonal antibody treatments.

Every day in St. Charles Prineville’s Emergency Department, Melissa Levesque sees the long-standing partnership between the hospital and Crook County Fire & Rescue in action.

“Oftentimes, they’ll bring in a patient with CPR in progress, and that crew will stay with us and help do compressions, or they’ll make sure we get the patient moved to where they need to go. I think that speaks to the teamwork we have with them,” said Levesque, trauma coordinator for the Prineville ED and house supervisor at St. Charles Prineville.

“We’re all from different organizations, but when we’re around a patient, it’s absolutely one big team,” she continued. “It’s so important for our patients and our community to know that we’re all working together to give them the best care possible.”

The relationship between Prineville’s local hospital — first Pioneer Memorial, now St. Charles Prineville — and the county’s emergency medical service stretches back at least 75 years, said Steve Lent, historian at the town’s A.R. Bowman Museum and a member of Crook County Fire & Rescue’s board of directors. That’s when local doctors helped train the area’s first emergency responders and the fire department purchased its first ambulance, a 1946 General Motors truck now on display at the museum.

“Back then, the hospital was just a three-story house converted to a hospital and the ambulance crew had to actually carry gurneys up and down the stairs,” Lent said. “Even then, they worked closely with the hospital to make sure everything went as smoothly as possible.”

Since then, just about everything has changed except the strong partnership between the entities. The latest proof of that is St. Charles’ recent donation of $100,000 to Crook County Fire & Rescue to help with the district’s purchase of two brand new, state-of-the-art ambulances — one already in use and another expected to arrive in September.

The new ambulances cost about $250,000 each and they’ll come equipped with several new features that will reduce back strain for EMTs and also make both patients and EMTs safer and more secure, said paramedic and Battalion Chief Jeremiah Kenfield. Those features include airbags in the back of the ambulance, a restraint system that secures EMTs while allowing them to move around and provide patient care, and, most prominently, a mechanical apparatus that loads the heavy patient cot into and out of the ambulance.

The loading apparatus is a “game-changer” for the EMTs, Kenfield said, because it will save them thousands of cot lifts every year and almost certainly reduce back injuries.

Safer, healthier EMTs are music to the ears of Crook County Fire & Rescue Chief Matt Smith, who started with the district as a volunteer firefighter in 1997. As overseer of the district’s budget, Smith said St. Charles’ donation is an opportunity to take money that was earmarked for an ambulance and spend it elsewhere in a growing district where tax revenues don’t cover the increasing level of service needed.

“We don’t have the ability to snap our fingers and build capacity anymore than anybody else does,” Smith said. “So when unexpected money comes in, we can put it to use elsewhere in the district to increase the capacity of our services and try to keep up with the growth in our community.”

It’s that last word — community — that catches the attention of Crook County Commissioner Jerry Brummer, who has spent the past nine years on the fire district’s board. In a rural area like Prineville, working together is more than just a warm, fuzzy feeling and a positive headline, he said. It’s absolutely necessary.

“Collaboration and partnerships, those are what makes a community,” Brummer said. “We have to work together on this stuff because our duty is to make this the best community we can, and we achieve that by understanding each other’s needs and working hand in hand to figure out how to meet those needs.”

He’s talking about agencies partnering on solutions, but he just as easily could be describing that “one big team” Levesque sees regularly in the Prineville Emergency Department. Whether it’s in a hospital room or the board room, St. Charles and Crook County Fire & Rescue are working together for the people in the region.

“If we didn’t work well as a team,” Levesque said, “there’d be gaps, and it’s the patients who would not get the same level of care they get today.”

For St. Charles, the donation isn’t just about maintaining the current level of care, but planning for the future of the community, too.

“We’re fortunate to enjoy such a positive and productive history of working with Crook County Fire & Rescue,” said Shannon Edgar, chief nursing officer at St. Charles Prineville. “We certainly value their partnership and we look forward to building on it for many years to come.”

Though mask mandates are being relaxed and gatherings are getting bigger, the push to vaccinate people against COVID-19 remains as important as ever. To keep yourself and your loved ones safe, to be able to continue doing the things you love to do and to support our local businesses, we need to vaccinate as many people as possible as quickly as possible.

If you’re not yet vaccinated and you’re ready to get the vaccines, learn how to do that at www.CentralOregonCOVIDVaccine.com.

If you’re not yet vaccinated and you feel hesitant about getting the vaccine, please consider:

The COVID-19 vaccines are SAFE:

• They do not contain live virus and cannot give you COVID-19.
• They do not affect or interact with your DNA in any way.
• They were tested in tens of thousands of people during clinical trials.
• Millions have already been vaccinated and are undergoing the most intensive real-time safety monitoring program in U.S. history.

The COVID-19 vaccines are EFFECTIVE:

• Clinical studies have shown the vaccines to be highly effective at reducing transmission of COVID-19 and at reducing serious illness and death as a result of the virus.
• In real-world conditions, nearly 4,000 health care personnel, first responders and essential workers were tested weekly for the virus that causes COVID-19. Those who were fully vaccinated were 90% less likely to get infected.
• COVID-19 is still spreading among the unvaccinated and causing serious illness, even among younger populations. Of the 500+ COVID-19 patients at St. Charles since March 1, about 98% of them have not been fully vaccinated.

Here are some more facts about the COVID-19 vaccine:

Side effects
Adverse immune responses from the vaccines almost always show up within the first two weeks and certainly within the first two months. Serious adverse events appear to be extremely rare and are being monitored on a real-time basis as vaccines are rolled out to the general population.

FDA approval
They are being administered under an Emergency Use Authorization because the FDA has not granted full approval yet, but that is NOT because of safety concerns. The vaccines are expected to receive full FDA approval once a year’s worth of data is available that shows how long they remain effective.

Fertility
There is no evidence that COVID-19 vaccines affect fertility. In fact, if you are pregnant or trying to become pregnant, the benefits far outweigh the risks as pregnancy puts a person at higher risk of severe COVID-19 illness. In addition, research suggests the vaccines provide some level of protection to newborns.

It's free
No matter who you are or where you live in the United States, you can get the COVID-19 vaccine at no cost to you.

Young and healthy
A highly contagious strain of COVID-19 is hitting young adults hard. The B.1.1.7 variant is now the most dominant strain of coronavirus in the United States. Unlike the original strain, this one is heavily impacting young people, some of whom go on to develop “long-haulers” syndrome.

Already had COVID-19
Even if you’ve had COVID-19 in the past, you should still get vaccinated because the immunity you get from the vaccine will likely be stronger and last longer than the immunity you have from being infected.

This past week, St. Charles put out a plea to the community because our beds at all four hospitals were full. We were opening overflow spaces for patient care, canceling procedures and crossing our fingers that people would not accidentally hurt themselves over Memorial Day weekend.

Thankfully, our system was not overwhelmed by traumas, our number of hospitalized COVID patients is lower than previous weeks and, as of today, we have beds and staff available to provide acute and critical care to those in need. I would like to thank all of you who heeded the warning and stayed safe. We honestly believe it made a difference.

But the situation raised an important question from many of you: Does St. Charles have enough hospital beds and staff to serve the rapidly growing Central Oregon population?

The answer, like all things in health care, is complicated.

St. Charles has increased its hospital bed capacity in recent years. We built a new three-story wing on the Bend campus that opened in May 2019. It added 24, state-of-the-art ICU beds and 28 progressive care unit beds. The lower level is shell space for future growth. We also converted the former ICU into a short stay unit. All of these investments have been critical as we have experienced high patient volumes during the pandemic.

In recent years our team built a new hospital in Prineville and renovated and added space at St. Charles Madras. During the pandemic, we have been able to convert spaces at St. Charles Redmond to care for additional patients as well.

All of these hospital construction projects are important as we care for our communities, but they come with a hefty price tag. Every time we add hospital beds it costs millions of dollars and adds to the already high price of health care.

Not to mention that we also have to be able to staff the beds we build. Hiring health care professionals is a huge challenge nationwide. At St. Charles we have more than 600 open positions right now and are struggling, like many employers, to fill these critical roles.   

While continued physical building expansion may still be necessary, we are also focusing on creative ways to serve our patients with the right level of care in the right place at the right time. Here are just a few of the projects we have underway to ensure we are able to meet our community’s growing health care needs:

• Investing in primary care so people have access to preventive and wellness services with a goal of keeping them out of the hospital.
• Working with community partners on increasing post-acute care capacity in the region so when patients are ready to leave the hospital, they have somewhere safe to go for care and we can improve the overall flow of patients in and out of our hospitals.
• Exploring cutting edge ways to provide care in environments outside traditional hospital settings so patients can receive hospital-level care without leaving the comfort of their home.
• Continuing to offer virtual visits so people can access care in ways that are most convenient to them.

It’s also important to remember that we are still dealing with a global pandemic that has completely rocked all of our worlds. COVID-19 cases continue to take up many of our hospital beds. We also have a huge backlog of patients whose procedures have been delayed repeatedly throughout the past 15 months who are waiting to get in for care. It is going to take a while to get back to normal. Achieving 70% vaccination for our region would help us get there faster, so please get vaccinated if you’re eligible.

We may not always be in the situation we are in today in terms of the large number of people requiring hospital stays. But, I want you to know that your care is our top priority and we will continue to grow as necessary and appropriate to meet our community’s changing health care needs.

Sincerely,
Joe

"The St. Charles Cancer Center is one of the places I feel most safe in this world. Where the hugs, smiles and support come with a tragic and compassionate understanding of this type of life. In their eyes I experience the power of living in the moment."

 

- Cricket Campbell in her CaringBridge journal, Dec. 1, 2019

Cricket Campbell could tell the news wasn’t good before anyone even spoke a word.

“I got a mammogram and I remember these long faces coming in,” she said. “They said, ‘We need to get you in for an ultrasound right away. Like, today.’ And I was like, ‘Oh. OK.’ And so that day, I had the ultrasound, and they said, ‘We see something here.’”

That was in late August of 2019. Within days, Campbell had a diagnosis: invasive ductal carcinoma — breast cancer, which had also spread to her lymph nodes. After visiting with a series of doctors, her treatment plan was set: four months of chemotherapy, followed by a double mastectomy and, if necessary, daily radiation treatments.

“The ball was rolling pretty much out of control from that point forward,” said Campbell, a single mother of two teenaged boys. “And I don’t know how I got connected but somebody connected me with Michele (Halligan), who was my saving grace throughout my treatments.”

Halligan is a nurse navigator, which means it’s her job to meet patients when they arrive at the Cancer Center and to try to ascertain how they can help the patient on their journey toward recovery. Each patient is different, of course, but each initially receives a kit with educational materials, local resources and product samples. The kits are paid for by Sara’s Project, a St. Charles Foundation charitable fund that promotes women’s health through education, outreach, research and more.

“There are some useful things in there,” Halligan said, “but mostly they’re a way to let these people know that they are not alone, that others have gone through this before them and that we’re going to be there right beside them along the way.”

As one of her first steps, Halligan suggested Campbell visit the Cancer Center’s Integrative Therapies department, which provides patients with massage, acupuncture and Reiki, a technique that uses touch to stimulate the body’s natural healing processes. Campbell had never experienced acupuncture or Reiki, but — willing to try anything that would make her feel better — she embraced them.

"I am ready and have done everything I think I possibly could have emotionally, spiritually, mentally, and physically to get here. I am ready to get any remaining cancer OUT OF ME! … I expect it to all go very well and have been working on the recovery in my mind and heart. My Reiki session last week was the gift I needed for the next phase of this journey."

 

- Cricket Campbell in her CaringBridge journal, Feb. 25, 2020

From mid-September of 2019 through the end of February 2020, Campbell endured a grueling 20-week course of chemotherapy treatment, which she calls “a very special kind of hell.” She buoyed herself with Reiki and massage, which are funded in part by Sara’s Project.

“Really, Integrative Therapies became my lifeline,” she said. “While chemo was killing me, Integrative Therapies was helping me hold on to myself and hold on to hope.”

Campbell didn’t stop there. When she started struggling to stay balanced, she attended physical therapy sessions. To sharpen her mental and emotional facilities, she took yoga and meditation classes. After her surgery, she strengthened her body through the Ascent wellness program and participated in mindful eating exercises. Along the way, she joined a survivors’ book club that read Dr. Kelly Turner’s “Radical Remission” together, and she nourished her mind by checking books out of the Cancer Center’s library. All are funded entirely or in part by money from Sara’s Project.

“All of it is as much a piece of the puzzle as the conventional treatments,” she said. “When I talk to people about this, I tell them, ‘Get yourself aligned with someone like St. Charles because of these programs.’”

Halligan agrees. She credits the caregivers who perform Integrative Therapies with providing “an additional layer of compassion, love and support” for patients, which leads to better outcomes and healthier survivors. Campbell is clear proof of that, she said.

“She came up on the other side of this very, very strong, and now she wants to serve as a support for other women who are going through what she’s gone through,” Halligan said. “It’s very fulfilling to see her build on the courage and strength that she acquired during this process. She definitely is not the same person she was prior to her treatment.”

"I don’t know what the future holds for me, but I do know that I am alive today due to hard work and phenomenal care and compassion of those on my team who surrounded me during my treatments and still to this day."

 

- Cricket Campbell in an email to St. Charles, March 31, 2021

Since her double mastectomy and radiation treatment in 2020, Campbell has poured herself into giving back and moving forward. She started a local Facebook group for women who’ve chosen not to have breast reconstruction surgery after a mastectomy. She received Reiki training and hopes to volunteer at the Integrative Therapies center in the future. And as a way to fulfill a longtime desire to participate in the Rubbish Renewed recycled-item fashion show held annually in Bend, she has turned a bunch of items from her visits to the Cancer Center — her chemo port, hospital bracelets, post-radiation cooling pads and so on — into a variety of wearable garments.

“I have a cape made from all the cards and encouragement and letters of support I received on my journey,” she said. “It hangs on my bedroom wall now to remind me of how loved I am.”

Next week, she will participate in the 2021 Heaven Can Wait 5K run/walk, her first as a survivor. The event is a major fundraiser for Sara’s Project, and with cancer now in her rearview mirror, Campbell said she can’t miss an opportunity to support a program that has provided her with so much support over the past two years.

“I feel like I can be a better champion for Sara’s Project, having experienced so many of the good things that it makes possible. I can really share that with people now,” she said. “Those services are absolutely invaluable because they help the whole person. Because we are whole people. We are not just cells that get radiated by a radiologist. We are whole people, which includes body, mind, spirit and soul, and Sara’s Project helps ensure those essential pieces get the attention they deserve.”

NOTE: St. Charles Foundation's 2021 Heaven Can Wait 5K run/walk will be held virtually June 6-13. To register (and support Sara’s Project), click here.