May 25, 2006 – The Charlotte Kimelman Cancer Institute treated its first four cancer radiation patients Wednesday and another four on Thursday, making the long-awaited dream a reality for Schneider Regional Medical Center.
"This is welcome news for the Caribbean's cancer patients who have been forced to travel long distances in recent years to receive the radiation oncology services," Rodney E. Miller Sr., Schneider president and CEO said in a Thursday release. "We have much work to be done, but now we have the equipment and staff available to treat patients right here at home."
Dr. Shirnett Williamson, director of radiation oncology, said Thursday that all had gone "beautifully," adding that "the patients were on and off the table in less than 20 minutes."
The staff has been preparing for this all year, Williamson said. "It's very exciting for the staff."
She said the institute is accepting the patients they have been preparing for treatment. "We are putting them in little by little, planning as we go along. We will treat them Monday through Thursday. We will see some patients tomorrow. We start next week on Tuesday, because Monday is a holiday."
Radiation therapist Linda Baptiste was clearly delighted Thursday. "It's been long awaited, and I'm glad to be working in my capacity. So far, everything has gone smoothly. The patients are very cooperative."
Baptiste added that patient preparation has been ongoing for the past couple weeks. "We did CAT scans in preparation for the first part of the treatment planning."
The CAT scan machine is where patients are examined before radiation treatments. The information produced by the CAT scan is given to a docimetrist who performs computations to deliver a prescribed radiation dose.
Arnold Jarvis, 73, of St. Croix was the fourth patient treated Wednesday. According to Michael Burton, Schneider public information officer, Jarvis was grateful he came to the institute and that his doctor caught his prostate cancer early.
Jarvis told Burton, "I'm glad I didn't have to go off island to the states. That's so important – you don't have to go too far from your family, and the doctors here are very nice and they know what they're doing."
The $18 million, 24,000-square-foot institute employs the latest in intensity-modulated radiation technologies for treating cancer and other tumors. Although the institute was dedicated in January, Burton said the complex equipment needed to be calibrated and commissioned, and the staff had to be trained.
He said the radiation equipment – a state-of-the-art Clinac 21 EX Linear Accelerator – more precisely destroys cancer cells, while sparing the surrounding normal tissue. It is the only one of its kind in the Eastern Caribbean, Burton said. "It's the same as what's used at M.D. Anderson," he said, adding that the M.D. Anderson Cancer Center in Texas is internationally recognized for its excellence in treatment and research.
Dr. Williamson said this new technology gives doctors the ability to better tailor radiation treatments for individual patients, which had not been available before.
"With the new IMRT [Intensity Modulated Radiation Therapy] and 3-D therapy planning, we are now able to create a personalized treatment plan for each patient and more accurately calculate the radiation dose each patient needs," she said.
The new technology will be used to treat all cancers that respond to radiation therapy, Burton said. These include prostate, breast, head and neck, lung, colorectal and brain tumors. In addition, CKCI will offer high-dose brachytherapy and seed implantation, commonly used for prostate cancer.
Burton said the institute's chemotherapy suite is not yet open because the architects found a problem in the flooring which needs to be replaced. Chemotherapy treatment is ongoing in the Schneider hospital. "It should be operational soon," Burton said.
For a tour of the facility, see "Visitors Get First Inside Glimpse of Cancer Institute".
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