NEW MEXICO CANCER CENTER ABSOLUTELY INNOVATIVE

When it comes to technology, the New Mexico Cancer Center is loaded with the latest science fiction gadgets that can deliver amazingly pinpoint treatments tailored and designed to match the size, shape and location of a tumor. NMCC’s Northeast Heights clinic is a one-stop shop where patients are analyzed, diagnosed and treated in a relaxing, humane and efficient way. Treating those afflicted with the disease in an out-patient manner, and being on-call to deal with any potential health threat, has been instrumental in the clinic’s success rate, said Dr. Barbara L. McAneny, New Mexico Cancer Center chief operating officer and current president of the American Medical Association. “In the late 1990s, I took over management of the practice and I was looking at several things,” she said. When the new clinic was built in 2002, McAneny vowed that it would be state of the art not only in the medical treatment of the patients, but also in terms of the patients’ mental and financial aspects of the disease. “The other thing that catalyzed building this place, when talking with patients and asking what they wanted — what a concept — they said we want color and light and beauty.” Walking through the spacious halls, visiting the uncluttered, living-roomlike waiting rooms, and seeing the recliners in the treatment areas, it’s clear that the patients’ comfort is primary. “So we decided that we would build a cancer center that would make it as convenient as possible, putting together medical oncology, radiation oncology and imaging, and we added other services over the years as needed,” she said. “And that we would have lots of natural light. And who can live in New Mexico without liking New Mexico art? We built the place to be a gallery. ” Not only is it a source of beauty for the patients and the clinic workers, but it also helps fund the New Mexico Cancer Center Foundation, which has delivered nearly $1 million in patient aid for non-treatment-related expenses because cancer is a financially debilitating disease,” McAneny said. “It’s an economic disaster.” The foundation steps in to help patients that need a truck payment or mortgage payment paid and is funded in large part by the sale of the artwork. “Whenever I had to put a patient in the hospital, even if they didn’t get a complication, bad bug or blood clot or one of the other bad things that happens in a hospital, just being parked in a bed for a week, you debilitate,” she said. “You and I would. But if you have cancer and you’re 70 years old, you never quite get back to where you need to be.” The clinic even received a $19 million grant from Medicare to study ways to avoid putting cancer patients in hospitals. “If you have a 102-degree fever and no blood pressure and you can’t stand up, you’re going into the hospital because you’re in shock,” McAneny said. “If I can get you two days earlier when your temperature is 99 and I give you antibiotics and fluids and manage that, you never get that sick.” The study revealed the methods save about $2,500 per patient and the clinic cut its hospitalization rate by 50 percent.