Cancer patients and their families are at the forefront of the design of the new Baptist MD Anderson Cancer Center\u2019s Cellular Therapy and Stem Cell Transplant Unit at Baptist Medical Center Jacksonville.<\/p>\n
Hospital leaders, physicians and patients celebrated the official opening of this new inpatient unit in the Weaver Tower with a ribbon-cutting ceremony on Thursday, Aug. 27. It will provide support for patients undergoing cellular therapy and stem cell transplantation for hematological cancers, as well as other complex cancer treatments.<\/p>\n
Baptist Health President and CEO Matt Zuino spoke passionately about the impact this new unit will have not only for the patients in need of treatment but for their families as well, pulling from his own experience watching his mother and two of his uncles undergo cancer treatments at the same time.<\/p>\n
\u201cCancer is one of those conditions \u2013 it\u2019s not just the patient; it\u2019s everyone. It impacts everyone\u2026But what today is, is a celebration of advancement, and where now we\u2019re able to bring even more advanced treatments to our cancer patients and to our community,\u201d said Zuino.<\/p>\n
With that in mind, LeeAnn Mengel, RN, MBA, CMPE, FACHE, vice president and administrator at Baptist MD Anderson, said the new unit was designed wholly around the needs of the patients, seeking input from them to help shape what their experiences and the experiences of their families would be when they came to the unit for their treatments.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe thing we heard most from cancer patients is, \u2018I don\u2019t want to see cancer when I\u2019m up here. I want to see life. I want to see what I\u2019m going to get back to,\u2019\u201d Mengel said. \u201c\u2026So that\u2019s what this program meant: It\u2019s meant to share what life will be when they come through.\u201d<\/p>\n
The Cellular Therapy and Stem Cell Transplant Unit would not be possible without \u201cthe power of philanthropy,\u201d Mengel added, which is more than simply funding a new unit in the wing of a hospital. It\u2019s sending a message to patients that support for them extends beyond the four walls of a hospital and into the community at large.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt\u2019s about saying, \u2018You matter. You\u2019re not just a number, and there is a cheerleading team out there rooting for you,\u2019\u201d Mengel said.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Cancer patients and their families are at the forefront of the design of the new Baptist MD Anderson…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":389308,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[8],"tags":[116,118,117],"class_list":["post-389307","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-jacksonville","tag-jacksonville","tag-jacksonville-headlines","tag-jacksonville-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/389307","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=389307"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/389307\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/389308"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=389307"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=389307"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=389307"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}