For Keith McCray, an attendant with St. Charles Bend’s Environmental Services team, the fulfillment he finds in his job comes not from his day-to-day tasks, but from the people he meets along the way.

“This is the best place I’ve ever worked, because I get to go into patient rooms and clean their rooms and talk with them,” he said.

“And they’re having a bad day, man. They’re in the hospital,” McCray continued. “So to bring them a little joy and a little conversation is fantastic to me. I wish I’d known about this job when I was 21 years old, because I would’ve been doing it all along.”

McCray brings to those patient rooms a sense of perspective and empathy that not everyone can provide. A few years ago, he was working at a national home improvement retailer when he fell off a truck and suffered a traumatic brain injury.

“I was in the hospital for a week and off work for two months, trying to relearn how to talk correctly and walk correctly,” he said. “So for me, especially when I’m working on the third floor (home to Bend’s Ortho/Neuro unit) and I’m meeting patients with head injuries, I feel like I know what they’re going through.”

Among other duties, McCray’s job is to empty the trash cans, change soiled linens and mop floors. But like many of St. Charles' EVS workers, he also gives patients a chance to talk with a non-clinical caregiver – someone who isn’t in the room to discuss test results or deliver potentially worrisome news.

“We were looking for something for Keith that would fit with his personality, and he always wanted to be able to connect with people,” said his wife of 26 years, Kelly. “He’s a chatty, outgoing guy, and he felt like he didn’t matter at his previous job. He feels like he matters here.”

A chance encounter brought McCray to St. Charles. In late 2021, when Kelly’s mother was in the hospital for surgery, she started talking to the guy who cleaned the room. Recognizing that working in the hospital would give her husband the kind of people- and service-driven work he needed, she encouraged him to apply for a job.

He was hired shortly after his interview.

“Moving 425-pound refrigerators starts to wear on your body after seven years,” McCray said. “So I gave my two-week notice and came to the hospital. It’s the best place I’ve ever worked.”

Before he worked at the home improvement retailer, McCray was a mechanic for more than 30 years.

“I was the kind of guy that I could pull your transmission out, take it apart and fix it, put it back together, and you're good for another 200,000 miles, but I couldn’t do that now to save my life,” he said with a laugh.

“But now, I wake up every morning and I’m excited to go to work,” McCray said. “I get to help people when they need it most. I get to work with a wonderful team of nurses and everyone else. I get to work in a positive environment where I have the support I need. And I like being a part of that.”

As you may have read, St. Charles has entered into a letter of intent with The Center to explore expanding our relationship with the goal of preserving and strengthening access to orthopedic, neurosurgical and physical medicine in the region. I want to review our announcement with you here because this effort is so important to our region and to the health system.

St. Charles has longstanding ties with The Center, which has 27 surgeons and 27 advanced practice providers offering orthopedic, neurosurgery and physical medicine care in Central Oregon. We currently own The Center’s clinic building on our Bend campus and we co-own Cascade SurgiCenter — also located in that building — with The Center physicians. 

Our announcement means we are exploring the possibility of employing a substantial number of The Center physicians, providers and employees. If the transaction ultimately moves forward, The Center’s providers will become part of the St. Charles umbrella of services.   

This is, simply put, the right thing to do. While not without risk, St. Charles is in a position to step in and help support a service line that is critical to our community. Due to ongoing reimbursement challenges and rising operating costs, Central Oregon has lost a dramatic number of orthopedic surgeons in the region in the past 18 months. I regularly hear from patients who are frustrated at long delays in orthopedic care. It currently takes patients in need of a joint replacement six months to receive an initial consultation appointment and another six months before surgery is scheduled.   

Working closely with The Center’s leadership, we understand the clinic is at risk of losing additional providers without immediate financial support, which also puts St. Charles Bend’s trauma program at risk. We rely on The Center’s team of orthopedic and neurosurgeons to help us care for more than 2,000 trauma patients every year.   

So, we are embarking on an exciting time where our teams will complete a due diligence process and put together a plan and timeline with a goal of completing the transition as soon as possible without disruption to patient care. As part of this process, we have applied to the Oregon Health Authority for an emergency exemption of its Health Care Market Oversight review to expedite the transaction and more quickly shore up services.   

Exploring a potential transaction with The Center is possible only because of our recent efforts to stabilize St. Charles. I’m incredibly proud that we are in a position to help support a critical health care service in our region. 

Sincerely,
Steve

If you’re worried that a questionable mole might be skin cancer, there’s an app for that — thanks to Emma Nordstrom, a St. Charles volunteer and graduate of Bend’s Trinity Lutheran School.

Earlier this year, Nordstrom, 18, was one of 200 high school students in the country to be recognized as a National STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering and Math) Champion for her invention: A program that allows a person to scan a concerning lesion and will flag it if it shares characteristics with different types of skin cancer.

Nordstrom — who spends Monday afternoons visiting and brightening the days of St. Charles patients — initially created the program as a project for the International Science and Engineering Fair.

“I decided to go down the path of skin cancer, particularly because underrepresented communities are often more affected by skin cancer,” she said.

As a sophomore, Nordstrom developed the program to run on a computer using a type of artificial intelligence called machine learning, specifically a convolutional neural network. That means the AI is trained in a way that mimics the human brain. Just as children learn over time that a square shape with legs is a table, the neural network learned from thousands of images to decipher what is and what isn’t skin cancer.

Nordstrom used around 10,000 images of skin cancer to train the program. Those images covered three forms of the disease: Basal cell carcinoma, squamous cell carcinoma and melanoma. (A fourth set of images, benign lesions, was used as a control.)

The program will flag a lesion as suspicious if it matches skin cancer images used in training. It’s not meant to be a diagnostic tool, but rather a screening tool to give people guidance as to whether they should see a dermatologist. Primarily, Nordstrom envisions physicians using the program to help them decide whether to refer patients to a specialist. While wait times to see a dermatologist can stretch beyond six months, a physician who suspects a lesion might be skin cancer can fast-track the referral.

Through the development process, Nordstrom decided to move the program from a computer to a smartphone.

“Not everyone has access to a computer,” she said. “We might be able to use this here in Bend because we are a higher income area, but I want to make sure it’s accessible in lower income areas, too.”

As a junior, Nordstrom competed at ISEF with the app version of the program, called DermaSkan. Then, as a senior, she submitted it to the National STEM Challenge, a nationwide competition in which students submit a science-related project that attempts to overcome a real-world problem.

Roughly 4,000 people submitted projects to the STEM challenge. Nordstrom was one of fewer than 200 National STEM Champions.

“I was shocked,” she said.

Kara Magee was not shocked. She’s the coordinator of volunteer services for St. Charles, and a huge fan of Nordstrom, whom she met just over a year ago.

“When she first arrived here, she was telling me about this app,” Magee said. “I was like, ‘You are going to save people’s lives!’ We’re all one of a kind, but she is just an exceptional human being.”

Although Nordstrom hopes to obtain a patent for her app in the future, she isn’t planning to pursue medical AI as a career, she said. Instead, she will attend Oregon State University next fall, where she’ll start down the path of becoming a pediatric nurse.

That’s no surprise to Magee.

“She goes in and chats with patients every week, which is one of the most important jobs we have here because some of them have no one to talk to,” she said. “She’s already making a difference in their lives, and she’s going to make a huge difference in our world.”

When October Grimes was born in September of 2018, she arrived 14 weeks early and weighed just over 14 ounces.

Immediately, nurses in St. Charles Bend’s Family Birthing Center wheeled her away to the nearby Neonatal Intensive Care Unit, where they could give October the highly specialized and around-the-clock care she needed.

She would spend the next 126 days in the NICU, with her mother, Lindsey Beaver of Bend, by her side for four to 12 hours per day, said Grimes’ father, Olen Grimes.

“The staff and the doctors were super amazing, super transparent and super caring. They truly cared for all of us,” Beaver said. “They kept us updated at all times. They helped me feed her and helped me change her diaper. They’d get her out of bed and bring her to me — anything to help make me comfortable in what was a really trying time.”

So when a friend told Beaver and Grimes about St. Charles’ NICU Reunion — held on a sunny recent Sunday afternoon at the Bend hospital — the couple RSVP’d immediately.

“We’re forever grateful for this staff,” Olen Grimes said. “Anytime they’re going to do anything for the community, we’re going to support that.”

The NICU Reunion was an annual event for years before the COVID-19 pandemic shut down gatherings in 2020. This year’s version was the first since 2019, and organizers created a fun and family friendly atmosphere by bringing in interactive games, crafts, face painting, a photobooth, refreshments, a bouncy house and more. Dozens of former patients — known affectionately as “NICU grads” — attended along with their families, as well as doctors, nurses and other staff from the unit.

The goal: To bring together families and the people who cared for their babies for a time of reconnection and celebration, said Stephanie West, a CNA and unit secretary in the NICU.

“It’s really rewarding to see the kids and see how much they’ve grown since they left us,” she said. “It’s just a lot of fun and it brings us all a bit of joy.”

Rochelle Simonds has worked as a registered nurse in the Bend NICU for 18 years. She spent most of the reunion giving kids fake tattoos — and smiling.

“When I discharge patients and they’re going leave the NICU … I say, ‘I’ll see you at Costco’ or ‘I’ll see you at Target’ and that’s really why we’re doing this,” she said. “The whole point of our job is to partner with parents to give their babies a jumpstart, and then to see them grow up and thrive and meet their potential. So it’s really nice that the parents are willing to bring their kids to this so we can connect with them again.”

Two of the children Simonds tattooed were Colby Wilson, 5, and his younger brother Owen Wilson, 1. Colby spent 30 days in the NICU in 2018; Owen spent 49 days there last year, said their mother, Kristi Wilson.

“We got to know everyone here really well and we had such a good experience, so it’s fun to be able to come back and see the doctors and nurses and staff,” she said. “We’re excited to see some familiar faces and to show them these healthy, happy kids.”

The feeling is mutual, said Eric Stuemke, a transport RN in the NICU who was born at 34 weeks on the fifth floor of St. Charles Bend in 1979 — before there was a NICU.

“The unknown is hard sometimes when a kid leaves and you don’t get an update on them,” he said. “It’s nice to see the families you took care of.”

Standing in a room full of glittery stickers, stuffed animals, ice cream and extremely active kids, Lindsey Beaver and Olen Grimes said the reunion event was a good reminder that their tribe expanded by more than just one member when October, soon to turn 6 years old, spent four months in the NICU back in 2018.

“Even though I don’t see the staff all the time anymore, they’re still dear in my heart and I think about them all the time,” Beaver said. “They became family in a way, you know?”

I recently received a heartwarming letter from a patient of St. Charles’ Bend hospital who had spent time in our Emergency Department, Imaging department, Medical Diagnostic Unit and Progressive Care Unit, encountering dozens of our caregivers along the way. He was grateful for the excellent care he received and highly complimentary of our staff – from the intake team to the doctors and nurses to the folks who cooked the food and cleaned the room.

We always appreciate hearing from patients here at St. Charles, but this letter particularly resonated with me because it came from a former colleague who spent decades working in health care at all levels, from the front line to executive leadership. He knows the industry inside and out, and he knows what it takes to provide high-quality care and a high-quality experience for patients.

This was, in other words, an especially informed patient. And he highlighted one experience at St. Charles that I want to share with you:

The nurse who had been caring for me for 12 hours was going home. She and the new nurse came into the room and the new nurse was introduced to me. Then the nurse who had been caring for me reached out to shake my hand and wish me all the best as I recovered. This small gesture has stuck with me, of all things. That simple gesture of respect during a vulnerable time for me was so kind and greatly needed. Shift change is a confusing time and this introduction helped greatly.

At St. Charles, we have the privilege of changing lives – even saving lives – every day. And when we tell our story, we have a tendency to focus on heroics in health care. But these moments of greatness wouldn’t be possible without all the small moments that make up each day – the warm smiles, the comforting words, the handshakes at shift change. These small acts of kindness create a culture of caring and compassion, and they accumulate to make St. Charles a force for good in Central Oregon.

As Michael Dowling, president and CEO of Northwell Health, wrote in an essay in early 2023, we must, “help ensure the value of health care is not defined by its highest highs or lowest lows, but by the millions of moments between the two in which lives are improved, health is restored and suffering is spared.”

There is extraordinary power in the ordinary, everyday work that often goes unsung. Please know that we value that work highly at St. Charles.

Sincerely,
Steve

Just over four years ago, the COVID-19 pandemic arrived in Central Oregon and promptly shut down St. Charles' robust, region-wide community outreach and educational efforts.

Now, the health system's calendar of classes, events and other gatherings is getting busier, with more on the horizon, said Carlos Salcedo, manager of community partnerships for St. Charles' Community Benefit department.

"It has taken a lot of work, a lot of coordination and a lot of patience, but we're ramping back up and we're going to be ramping up even more," he said. "We really appreciate the partnerships and the collaboration with the public health agencies, nonprofit organizations and the citizen groups in the communities we serve."

Over the past year or so, Salcedo and his team have spent time in each of the region's smaller towns — La Pine, Madras, Prineville, Redmond and Sisters — reconnecting with individuals and groups and talking with them about their local health and wellness needs and goals and how St. Charles can help achieve them. Last year, those efforts took root in Sisters, where the health system partnered with the Sisters Park & Recreation District to stage Heart Health 101 classes at Coffield Community Center.

This year, the La Pine Activity Center has embraced a partnership with St. Charles and hosted a number of different events, including classes on heart health, basic wound care, fall prevention, stroke recognition, end-of-life care planning and common home safety improvements. And in Prineville, the nonprofit group Crook County on the Move — which has worked closely with St. Charles for many years — has helped coordinate stroke recognition education, grief support groups and healthy cooking classes.

Each of these events are led by experts from the health system, but engaging with individuals local to each community is vital and a key step to a successful program, Salcedo said.

"It’s really about empowering communities and making sure they have a role in what happens where they live," he said. "They know their population and their needs the best. We're just here to work with them to meet those needs."

Community Benefit is not the only St. Charles department involved in more in-person gatherings. The health system's Trauma Program recently hosted free Stop the Bleed classes and held its annual Trauma Survivor Day event. Bariatric support groups are meeting in Redmond and Bend. In Prineville, the Hospice and Bereavement team leads guided walks for people experiencing grief. And the Bend Family Birthing Center hosts breastfeeding education classes and recently relaunched free tours of the FBC and childbirth education classes. (The Madras Family Birthing Center also offers tours; give them a call to schedule one.)

The goals for St. Charles: To be a good community partner, to provide educational opportunities for local people and to help make Central Oregon a healthier place. And as a bonus, bringing people together also aligns with the health system's Community Benefit priority for the next three years: reducing feelings of loneliness and social isolation while fostering a sense of belonging in the communities we serve.

"Part of our effort to make Central Oregon a healthier place is creating opportunities for connection," Salcedo said. "We know that loneliness and isolation are root causes of a number of different health problems and societal problems, so any time we can help and support people coming together to find connection in their community, that's a good thing."

To stay up to date with St. Charles’ offerings, visit our Classes & Events calendar. For La Pine events, visit the La Pine Activity Center’s website. In Sisters, check out the Sisters Park & Recreation District. And in Prineville, connect with Crook County on the Move.

I’m excited to share with you St. Charles' 2023 annual report, which we’ve just published.

Historically, this document has acted as a snapshot of our activities within a given 12-month period. This year, however, we are bookending our 2023 report with a look back at some key metrics that illustrate the profound impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on our health system, and a look ahead to where we go from here.

As for 2023, it’s the year we regained our footing and started to more confidently move forward, with the wind of a rebuilt workforce and a remarkable financial turnaround at our backs.

We will never forget the profound emotional and physical toll the pandemic took on our workforce, our patients and our world. So, to be clear: We are not leaving the pandemic behind. In fact, we are taking some of the qualities that helped carry us through the past few years – tenacity, resourcefulness, teamwork, compassion and an unwavering commitment to caring for all – and working to ensure they are embedded within the very fabric of our organization.

We are working hard to stay agile and adaptable in the face of many challenges, including some we cannot control. And we are pleased to be on solid ground as we consider the next steps we need to take to remain viable – not just for our patients, but for all of Central Oregon. As a local, nonprofit organization, we know St. Charles is a vital and valued pillar in this community.

As you take in the information in this annual report, please do so knowing that St. Charles has cared for Central Oregon for more than a century, and we intend to be here for the next 100 years, too. I am incredibly proud of the progress our health system made in 2023, and the momentum we’ve gained as we head into a very bright future.

Sincerely,
Steve

Pictured above: From left, Bette Johnson, neonatal nurse practitioner, examines an infant’s retina with help from pediatric ophthalmologist John Davis and NICU nurse Rochelle Simonds.

St. Charles’ Neonatal Intensive Care Unit has a new tool to help prevent blindness in premature infants, thanks to $85,000 in funding from St. Charles Foundation. The new retinal camera now in use allows caregivers to take high quality images of babies’ eyes, giving ophthalmologists the ability to detect early warning signs and recommend treatment for infants before the disease progresses, possibly leading to blindness.

“We feel very fortunate to have this new tool, and the improved monitoring and quality of care for our patients. It is exciting for St. Charles to have the newest technology and the best equipment to support our community,” said Dr. Patrick Lewallen, NICU medical director.  “We are grateful to the Foundation for helping raise the level of care our infants are receiving that is ultimately reducing the risks that premature babies have visual difficulties related to prematurity.”

Infants who are born premature are vulnerable to a number of health concerns – including eye disease and blindness. This is caused by a condition called retinopathy of prematurity. Infants born before 30 weeks’ gestation or weighing less than 3 pounds need to be scheduled for regular eye exams following birth. Until 2024, those exams at the St. Charles NICU were not that dissimilar from a regular eye exam: a pediatric ophthalmologist would shine a light into the eye and provide a written description of what was observed.

But starting this year, caregivers in the NICU are using a state-of-the-art retinal camera to observe and record the condition of the eye, thanks to donors who gave to the St. Charles Foundation’s General Fund. The camera takes highly detailed photos of the retina so they can be closely examined and compared to images over time. Early detection is key for this condition, as it is very treatable.

Pediatric Ophthalmologist Dr. John Davis works at the Oregon Health & Science University Casey Eye Institute’s Bend clinic and visits the NICU at St. Charles at least once a week to evaluate premature babies meeting criteria for this special monitoring. OHSU’s Bend clinic utilizes a similar retinal camera to the one used in the NICU. This allows for easy collaboration between the two organizations to compare images and best support patients as they transition from NICU to an outpatient setting.

When infants are born, blood vessels in their eyes have not fully developed, explained Davis. It takes between 36-40 weeks for infants to completely develop these blood vessels, and in premature infants, sometimes they never fully develop, which can lead to visual impairment and blindness.

Catching it early is critical as there are ways of treating it through the injection of a medication or laser procedure.

“The majority of patients who are screened do not need treatment, but for those that do, this is a critical tool to preserve vision,” said Davis.

The retinal camera is an example of new technology that is funded through St. Charles Foundation to give caregivers access to the best tools possible to treat patients.

“This is an example of how the Foundation can elevate our care for patients from good to excellent,” said Jenny O’Bryan, Executive Director for the Foundation, about why this project was funded. “Our goal is to raise funds that ultimately elevate the care we are able to provide for people in Central Oregon.”

Pictured above: Dr. Michael Lavelle of St. Charles Urology.

What’s better than a win-win situation?

Here’s something: St. Charles’ new Urology service – a rare win-win-win, with benefits for all involved.

“It’s exciting to be part of building something like this,” said urologist Dr. Michael Lavelle. “It’s a lot of work, but I’ve been so impressed by the enthusiasm and the positive attitude of everyone involved.”

The new service came together over the winter, when Lavelle joined the health system after the closure of his previous practice. At St. Charles, he found not only a place to continue serving Central Oregon – that’s win #1 – but also an organization that was already considering starting a urology service.

“It just so happens (that had) been on our minds for a while,” said Jonnie Becker, administrative director of Surgical Services for St. Charles.

Urology is an attractive service for the health system because caregivers in the field do a lot of interesting things day-to-day, generally are practicing at the top of their scope and have high job satisfaction, Becker said.

“People (in urology) tend to enjoy what they do, which makes it easier to attract and retain great caregivers,” she said.

That’s win #2.

Win #3 is the most important: The new service meets a need for urology services in the community, and it also allows Lavelle’s patients at his previous practice to continue seeing him rather than having to find a new provider.

“It’s great for them, because they know me and my style, and I know them and their history. No one wants to change doctors and start over with someone new, particularly in an area like urology, which can feel sensitive or embarrassing,” Lavelle said.

“I had a lot of people say they’d rather just wait a few months for me to get set up here than go see someone else,” he said. “I think that speaks to how important that relationship is between patient and provider.”

Lavelle, who is originally from Portland, went to medical school at Loyola University of Chicago, completed his residency at Oregon Health & Science University, and is certified by the American Board of Urology. Like a lot of people in the field, he became interested in urology because it offers a lot of variety: Medical practice, patient relationships fostered by office visits, and regular surgical duties, with all the associated new techniques and procedures.

“Clinically, there is significant variety in urology,” he said. “It keeps our office staff interested and happy, which creates a great work environment.”

Besides Lavelle, the Urology team currently includes a nurse practitioner, a physician’s assistant, medical assistants and office staff. Urology services are available in Bend at 2200 NE Neff Road (in The Center) and in Redmond at 1245 NW 4th Street. Lavelle and nurse practitioner Eden Fair are currently seeing patients in both the Bend and Redmond locations.

St. Charles Urology offers evaluation and treatment of:

• Urinary tract disorders, including infections
• Kidney stones and kidney disease
• Incontinence and overactive bladder
• Male sexual health
• Prostate health
• Urological cancers

Specialized services include:

• Urodynamcis
• Bladder instillation: BCG, Botox
• PTNS
• Voiding trials
• Catheterization
• Vasectomies
• Vasectomy reversal

You can reach St. Charles Urology by phone at 541-706-4200 or fax at 541-797-5820, and learn more on our website.

Once a patient is diagnosed with cancer, a clock begins ticking. Every moment that passes between a doctor creating a treatment plan and when treatment begins can be agony for patients.

“In addition to the emotional toll — the fear and anxiety — we know that at some point, delays in treatment can also lead to worse health outcomes for patients. Every day matters when it comes to treating cancer,” said Dr. Linyee Chang, senior medical director for Cancer at St. Charles. “Reducing the time that patients spend in limbo — between diagnosis and treatment — is what makes us so excited and hopeful about the new instant approval process that started in January.”

The new pilot is an innovative arrangement between PacificSource and St. Charles that allows patients who are receiving treatment that follows national best practice guidelines to receive automatic insurance approval with no delays. (About 93% of all care plans at the St. Charles Cancer Center are guideline-adherent; the exceptions are those rare or complicated cases where definitive research doesn’t yet exist.)

This pilot developed out of concerns raised by providers and patients about delays related to pre-authorization with health insurance companies and especially Medicare Advantage plans. Typically, when a patient receives a cancer treatment plan from a physician, St. Charles financial advocates then reach out to insurance companies for approval. No treatment can begin until the plan is OK’d by the insurance company — and that can take days or sometimes even weeks to approve.

The instant approval process is working to reduce delays for patients. Since January, 93 patients have been part of the pilot program. Of those, 82% received authorization to begin treatment the very same day, compared with just 54% of patients on other insurance plans. And Chang expects to see these numbers improve as the program is more established.

“Sometimes with the instant approval, we get insurance confirmation on the same day,” said Hidie Baker, financial advocate for St. Charles. “I do a happy dance as soon as I get one approved because I know I’m making a difference in helping the patients out.”

For St. Charles President and CEO Steve Gordon, the results of the pilot program are gratifying.

“Last fall, we made a point to publicly call attention to the delays and administrative burdens we were experiencing with many Medicare Advantage plans. Now we are seeing a creative solution put into action that benefits patients that is a direct result of us raising those concerns,” Gordon said. “This is a story of the waste and barriers we experience and how some health systems and hospitals are working to do something about it.”

National standards
One of the reasons this program is possible, according to Chang, is because the St. Charles Cancer Center has worked diligently for 20 years to drive clinical excellence through protocols, processes and practices to build a world class cancer center. The cancer center follows National Comprehensive Cancer Network guidelines, which are standards created by 33 academic cancer research centers across the nation.

“These guidelines form the foundation for our quality program, and they became our standard of care in 2004,” said Chang.

NCCN guidelines designated as 1 or 2a mean that more than 85% of experts agree that the treatment is a best practice. This is critical for the instant approval process, as patients whose treatment plans include 1 or 2A guidelines are automatically approved and don’t require an independent review.

“This removes a lot of waste for our staff, but the biggest improvement is for patients,” said Mari Shay, service line administrator for Cancer Services. “A patient can come in on a Monday, receive a plan for radiation and leave with a schedule in hand to start the next day. It’s life-changing. And because St. Charles Cancer Center follows NCCN guidelines, patients are assured that it’s the best care.”

Both Chang and Shay are hopeful that this program will prove successful and grow.

“Our goal is to expand this program. We have built it with expansion in mind. We want all of our St. Charles cancer patients to have this fast-track option available,” said Chang.

Dr. Mike Hatch wishes an instant approval process had been available for his family last year, when his 30-year-old sister-in-law was diagnosed with stage 3 breast cancer.

“The oncologist with whom we met told her, ‘I would like you to have started chemotherapy yesterday,’” said Hatch.

But from the time she received her diagnosis to the time she started treatment, about three weeks elapsed.

Hatch, an anesthesiologist, noted that most of the patients he works with are undergoing elective surgery, in which timing is not always paramount. He was not prepared for the urgency that came with a cancer diagnosis. “We learned that a cancer diagnosis and the daunting treatment course to follow is thrust upon a patient with a timeline that can feel pretty terrifying. It wasn’t until that moment of diagnosis that we came to fully understand the urgency of it and the number of hurdles we would need to clear as a family to initiate treatment. Every day that passed on the calendar felt like another day that we could be a day late.”

Hatch says his sister-in-law is halfway through chemotherapy and the family is feeling hopeful about her progress.

“From my perspective, if a patient can get to appropriate care even one day sooner, it would offload an enormous amount of anxiety and worry. I am grateful to St. Charles for making this a priority and I’m equally excited for the patients whom this will benefit.”