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May 24, 2007
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
For
more information, contact Ibis Antongiorgi, Press Secretary to Cook
County Board President Todd H. Stroger, at 312-603-0396 or by email at
iantongiorgi@cookcountygov.com.
County Board President Todd Stroger, American Cancer Society Officials Unveil New Cancer Patient Center
Program
at Stroger will be the largest American Cancer Society center in a
public hospital in the country and the first in Illinois to provide the
ACS’s Comprehensive Navigation Program.
May 24, 2007 – Cook County Board President Todd Stroger joined
Dr. Clement Rose, President of the Board of the Illinois Division of
the American Cancer Society, and health care professionals and American
Cancer Society officials Thursday evening, May 24 to launch Stroger
Hospital’s new Cancer Patient Center, located at the
hospital’s Specialty Care Center, 1901 W. Harrison St., in
Chicago.
The Center is the largest of its kind in a public hospital in the
nation, and the first in Illinois to offer the American Cancer
Society’s specialty navigation services to cancer patients.
More than 60,000 Illinois residents will be diagnosed with cancer this
year, including close to 30,000 from Cook County. For patients without
health care insurance, Stroger Hospital and its health care
professionals often fill the void for treatment and care.
To address these patients’ need for services and help, the
American Cancer Society and its Patient Navigation Services program has
created the new Cancer Patient Center on-site in Stroger
Hospital’s Specialty Care Center. The full-time program links
those affected by cancer with trained ‘navigators’ –
licensed clinical social workers who serve as personal guides to help
patients confront the psychological, emotional and financial aspects of
diagnosis, treatment and care.
“This new on-site Cancer Patient Center and its trained
navigators will provide vital assistance for our patients in their
journey through treatment and recovery,” says President Stroger.
“We’re thrilled at the opportunity to work with the
American Cancer Society to provide this service, and are especially
grateful to them for their commitment to serving underserved and
low-income patients through this program.”
Navigators are full-time ACS employees with rigorous training in
collaboration with the National Cancer Institute Patient Navigation
Research Program. They’re concentrated in hospitals and clinics
that treat a large number of medically underserved patients, including
those without insurance or on Medicaid.
The navigators help patients tackle a range of needs, from arranging
transportation to and from treatment or providing referrals to physical
therapy or nutrition counseling to getting patients information on
financial assistance programs.
The American Cancer Society’s program was launched in 2005 and
currently operates in 60 sites across the US. A $10-million gift from
drug maker AstraZeneca will allow the ACS to open 50 new Patient
Navigator Program sites in the next five years, including three this
spring at the Seattle Cancer Care Alliance in Seattle, the Helen F.
Graham Cancer Center at Christiana Care in Wilmington, Delaware, and
the John H. Stroger, Jr., Hospital of Cook County in Chicago, Ill.
Last year, the County’s system, which includes three public
hospitals plus clinics and specialty services, logged over one million
patient visits. The linchpin of the system, Stroger Hospital, is a
464-bed acute-care/tertiary teaching facility with a nationally
renowned level-one trauma unit and a cancer program that allows the
facility to serve as the nation’s largest public cancer care
provider.
As the hub of Cook County’s public health care system, the
eight-story tertiary/acute care facility is anchored by 228
medical/surgical beds, with dedicated units for obstetrics, pediatrics,
eighty intensive care beds, 58 neonatal intensive care beds and 18 burn
beds. Each of the eight floors is up to 800 feet in length, equal to
one-half city blocks, to maximize horizontal sharing of services and to
facilitate patient and staff movement. Other specialized services
include emergency care and intensive care – particularly the
neonatal Intensive Care Unit, which is the largest in the Midwest.
Stroger Hospital’s emergency room is one of the busiest in the
city, with over 155,000 adult and pediatric visits annually, and the
hospital is also highly respected for its Burn Care Center, the second
oldest in the country and the first burn service in Illinois.
For
more information, contact Ibis Antongiorgi, Press Secretary to Cook
County Board President Todd H. Stroger, at 312-603-0396 or
iantongiorgi@cookcountygov.com.
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