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Outreach |
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Partnership Advances Cancer Care and Treatment
In the final phase of a more than two-year, multiphase endeavor, the Seattle Cancer Care Alliance ambulatory clinic opened in January 2001. The opening brings to the area one of the most state-of-the-art oncology patient care organizations in the nation. The Alliance combines the strengths of three of the best oncology organizations in the Pacific Northwest—the Fred Hutchinson Cancer Research Center, the UW Academic Medical Center, and Children’s Hospital and Regional Medical Center.
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The Seattle Cancer Care Alliance outpatient clinic officially opened on Jan. 29, 2001. The Alliance clinic took two years to plan and construct and now houses several clinics which relocated from UW Medical Center.
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The Alliance is a natural outgrowth of the combined efforts of the partner organizations. During the past 25 years, the Hutchinson Center, the UW AMC and Children’s have had long-standing relationships supporting their respective missions of oncology research, patient care, and education.
Through the Alliance, patients have access to the latest research-based cancer therapies being developed by its collaborating organizations. These therapies include treatments for a number of malignant and non-malignant diseases and disorders. Patients receive their care from experts with years of oncology-care experience. Supporting this care are the latest technologies available for treating various forms of cancer.
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While his family checks in at the front desk, Seattle Cancer Care Alliance patient Carter Smith is kept company in the SCCA waiting room by his toy dog. |
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“This gives us an incredible opportunity to look at all of our systems and take the best from each of them,” said Lisa Brandenburg, UW Medical Center associate administrator for oncology services. The new outpatient clinic was two years in the planning and construction.
“It’s a spectacular state-of-the-art facility where nearly every aspect of the treatment of cancer and blood disorders has been designed to maximize patient safety and convenience,” said Dr. Marc Stewart, medical director of the Alliance.
The ambulatory clinic building, which overlooks Seattle’s Lake Union, has seven floors to house the many services offered. The first floor contains a radiation oncology unit with a linear accelerator, a blood draw and specimen collection area (blood drawn is available to the patients’ physicians in time for their appointments), and a pathology lab in addition to general reception, a patient family resource center, sanctuary, and classroom for patient/family education programs. Upper floors house areas for diagnostic imaging, health information management, mammography, infusion, transplant clinics, and numerous offices and laboratories. There are free and frequent shuttles among the three collaborating partner institutions.
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After checking in, Smith receives his outpatient treatment. The SCCA ambulatory clinic provides a variety of services, including drawing a patient's blood on site and having it available to the patient's physician in time for the appointment. |
Preparations for the clinic’s opening took several months. At UW Medical Center, the move meant the transfer of dozens of staff members.
“It was not a small task for these folks to move,” said Wendy Poskanzer, nurse manager for the Cancer Center, who herself joined the Alliance clinic as director of treatment and procedures. “But it was worth it, because we know the Alliance is the best thing for our patients and for cancer research.”
UW Medical Center clinics relocated to the Seattle Cancer Care Alliance building include medical oncology, hematology, breast cancer, gynecological oncology, melanoma, and sarcoma. Many faculty members and research and support staff also relocated offices to the Alliance building.
The new outpatient clinic is the third phase of the Alliance’s facilities plan. A pediatric inpatient unit opened at Children’s in 1999 and adult units at UW Medical Center in 2000. Norm Hubbard, chief operating officer of the Alliance, calls the new clinic the Alliance’s “front door.”
The Alliance sees the clinic as more than a local resource. Hubbard believes that the Alliance is the first place people all over the Northwest will turn to if they or people they know have cancer. They may be seeking a specific intervention, a second opinion, or an entire course of treatment. In addition to the obvious benefits to patients, the Alliance expects to collaborate with hospitals and physicians throughout the WWAMI area to share new treatments and research protocols.
Executive Director Dr. Fred Appelbaum put a perspective on the creation of the clinic: “It is a milestone in that it is the culmination of an enormous amount of work, but opening the facility does not eliminate cancer.” Advances in cancer treatment, he said, will come from teamwork, dedication, and breakthrough research. Making contributions to that research while providing superior patient care is what the Alliance is all about.
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