Latest / Becker’s Healthcare - Clinical Leadership Podcast / Tom Cox, Vice President of Operations & Tenille Oderwald, Director of Operations at OSF HealthCare Cancer Institute

Transcript

Tom Cox, Vice President of Operations & Tenille Oderwald, Director of Operations at OSF HealthCare Cancer Institute · Becker’s Healthcare - Clinical Leadership Podcast

• 0:00
  Welcome everyone to the Becker's Healthcare podcast series.
• 0:02
  I'm Ryan Mohammed, writer and moderator with Becker's
• 0:05
  Healthcare.
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  I am thrilled to have with me today
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  two special guests, Tom, vice president of of
• 0:10
  operations at OSF Healthcare Cancer Institute, and Teneal,
• 0:14
  director of operations at OSF Healthcare Care Cancer
• 0:16
  Institute. Tom Teneal, welcome to the podcast. We're
• 0:18
  very excited to have you join us today.
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  To get us started, would you mind please
• 0:21
  introducing yourselves and telling us a bit about
• 0:23
  your background?
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  Tom, do you mind starting with you?
• 0:27
  Sure. My name is Tom Cox. I'm the
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  vice president of operations of the Cancer Institute.
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  Institute. I started my career in radiology,
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  actually, but over the years probably the last
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  fifteen years, I've been involved in oncology
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  and the development of the Cancer Institute, and
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  I really kind of oversee the strategic direction
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  of the Cancer Institute.
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  Wonderful. Thank you so much for that. And
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  then, Tenille?
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  Hi, everyone. My name is Tenille Oderwald. I'm
• 0:55
  the director of operations here at the Cancer
• 0:57
  Institute. I've been with Saint Francis for just
• 0:59
  about twenty eight years. All in always working
• 1:02
  in oncology care,
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  from a floor nurse to navigation
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  and now into a leadership role,
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  as the director of operations.
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  Wonderful. Thank you both for giving us that
• 1:13
  background. So jumping into the conversation today, what
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  innovative ways is OSF HealthCare
• 1:19
  providing world class cancer care to patients?
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  Tom, Teneal,
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  either one of you, please jump in.
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  Sure. From an innovation perspective,
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  there's quite a few things that we brought
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  to the community that that we have not
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  had before.
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  I'll start by talking about our brachytherapy
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  suite. Brachytherapy is a type of therapy,
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  where we're able to introduce
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  needle applicators and put high dose radiation
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  into the body, into the tumor area, and
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  treat that. We have a brachytherapy
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  suite that's got an integrated CT on rails,
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  and we're able to really create a very
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  efficient process and a good patient,
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  experience. We also have artificial intelligence that reads
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  all of our radiology reports and pulls out
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  follow ups that need to be done and
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  pulls out suspicious lesions so that we can
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  make sure that,
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  those lesions are addressed.
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  We have a a a coordinator who who
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  follows that. And and if there is a
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  suspicious lesion, we'll get it into our
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  rapid,
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  clinic to be assessed and diagnosed right away.
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  We've also brought proton therapy into the community,
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  which is bringing patients from further away and
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  allows us to treat some patients that we
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  may have had to not to turn away
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  and not be able to use radiation therapy
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  on.
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  Got it. Got it. Thank you so much
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  for, answering that. Taneal, did you have anything,
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  to add there?
• 2:49
  Sure. So, you know, really, the whole building
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  is filled with innovative ways, that we are
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  offering that world class cancer care to patients.
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  When we
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  sat down to really look at the workflows
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  and designs of the bath of of the
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  building
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  and pathways of the patients, it really sets
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  us apart from others, I believe.
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  You know, we really have focused on that
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  patient experience
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  and that ease for patients.
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  So for instance, when a patient has a
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  diagnosis, there's many times they need a lot
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  of additional imaging that's being completed.
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  May they may need a PET scan. They
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  may need an MRI.
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  And
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  before, these were always done on different days.
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  So,
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  what we decide
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  to do is really develop a workflow for
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  patients that when they come in, they can
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  get all of their imaging done in one
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  day.
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  It's called our stack testing.
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  So, this has allowed patients
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  to have that timeliness to treatment,
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  getting that,
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  staging workup that's needed so quickly,
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  completed,
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  really decreasing
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  that, those sleepless nights,
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  that patients often endure,
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  waiting for those results and a treatment plan
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  to form. So really excited that we're able
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  to offer that for most of our cancer
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  types.
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  Also, you know, multidisciplinary
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  approach is a really high priority for us
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  here at the Cancer Institute.
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  So,
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  making sure that we have when patients come
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  here, it's that one stop shop where they
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  can meet with the radiation oncologist, their surgeon,
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  medical oncologist, their nurse navigator,
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  all in one day,
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  to get that information that they need to
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  really start that treatment plan and and a
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  follow-up,
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  course of action.
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  Yeah. Yeah. Absolutely. Thank you so much for
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  giving us that information. Sounds, obviously,
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  as a great improvement.
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  And recently, you've announced some, some new physician
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  hires that are offering new expertise at the
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  Cancer Institute. Can you tell us a little
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  bit more about that?
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  Absolutely.
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  We are very proud of the physicians that
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  we have, the depth of physicians,
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  their expertise.
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  In particular,
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  we recently hired a surgical oncologist who's brought
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  HIPEC technology to our community,
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  and that's a surgical procedure that's used to
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  treat advanced abdominal cancers that have spread to
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  the lining of the abdomen. So the the
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  surgeon will go in and remove those tumors,
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  and that is followed by sixty to ninety
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  minutes of,
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  heated chemotherapy
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  that circulates through the abdominal cavity to make
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  sure that we kill off any of those
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  cancer cells that the the surgeon may not
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  have seen when they were moving the tumors.
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  So that's one technology that we've brought here.
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  From a depth of talent perspective, we have
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  two very good head and neck cancer surgeons,
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  three breast surgeons,
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  or gynecological
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  oncologist,
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  very talented physicians. Those are those are hard
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  to find. We're blessed to have those in
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  the community.
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  We have two hepatopancreatobiliary
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  surgeons.
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  We do
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  amount the amount of pancreatic
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  cancer surgeries that we do compares to anyone
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  in the state and really anyone in the
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  nation. We do a lot of those surgeries.
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  We have two thoracic surgeons that,
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  are are actually in the ninety ninth percentile
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  in terms of outcome
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  with the Thoracic Surgery,
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  Association.
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  So very talented,
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  surgeons.
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  We also have a radiation oncologist that has
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  proton therapy that has come to our community,
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  proton therapy experience.
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  And that's really helped us, build out our
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  proton therapy,
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  program even more.
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  So, again, we are proud of that that
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  depth, and we're building more depth of providers,
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  every day.
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  Yeah. Yeah. Absolutely. And, Teneal,
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  would you like to add anything there? And
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  if not,
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  looking towards the future, what's coming
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  soon at the OSF Cancer Institute?
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  Yeah. So, we are,
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  having a lot of big focus on prevention
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  and early detection,
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  with cancer. We don't wanna just be there
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  at a diagnosis. We wanna make sure that
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  we're,
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  maybe helping prevent a cancer from occurring or
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  finding it as early as possible. So we're
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  putting a lot of measures
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  and initiatives towards early detection and education
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  surrounding what a patient's risk risk is.
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  We have a high risk and genetic clinic
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  that,
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  screens patients and assesses what their risks are.
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  And for those that are at a higher
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  risk, putting them on a plan to,
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  for extra screening
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  and teaching them more about nutrition and exercise
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  and how that can really impact your cancer
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  risk.
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  Yeah. Yeah. Definitely. Thank you so much for
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  giving us that information.
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  Tom,
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  if I could ask, how has the OSF
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  Cancer Institute become a destination center for cancer
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  care, do you think?
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  So
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  I just wanna talk a little bit about
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  the type of destination center that we really
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  want to be,
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  that we that I feel we are and
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  that we're gonna continue to grow in.
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  Many destination
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  center you know, if you're a destination center
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  that somebody has to get on a plane
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  and come see you, what you're essentially doing
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  is you're gonna treat disease.
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  They come there, you have great expertise, you
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  treat the disease, they go back home. You're
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  not really involved with survivorship,
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  you're not really involved with cancer control in
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  general.
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  For us, what we are doing here in
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  Peoria and throughout the midsection of the state
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  is we're really trying to to partner
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  with the communities around us, not just OSF
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  communities, but all communities in cancer control.
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  How do we work together to help people
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  understand what what what may cause cancer?
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  What are what is your genetic risk of
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  cancer? How do we mitigate that risk?
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  Where are you with early detection? Are you
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  getting your screenings?
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  We wanna raise awareness with screening.
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  If you do have a suspicion, we wanna
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  make it easy to get in and get
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  diagnosed and staged,
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  and we wanna work with the communities around
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  us to make sure that, we share our
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  expertise,
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  but also that as much treatment
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  can be done locally as possible. Sick people
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  don't necessarily wanna get in a car. So
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  if they're able to get treatment,
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  locally, we wanna work with our OSF communities
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  and non OSF communities to build up what
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  they're able to do
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  in less complex cancer care. And then the
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  tools we have at the Cancer Institute are
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  available
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  if if, they do not have that particular
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  tool in the community. So those complex cases
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  can come here and see our head and
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  neck,
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  surgeons. Our gynec,
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  can have HIPEC surgery,
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  can have proton therapy, can utilize that brachytherapy
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  suite. So we wanna walk the path
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  before you even have cancer and to help
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  you prevent it, to help you find it
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  early, to help you get treatment, and then
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  on into survivorship.
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  That's really what we're gonna hang our hat
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  on as a destination center, and I think
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  that's a little different
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  than, again, those sites where you might say,
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  I need to get on a plane and
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  go somewhere,
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  to get treatment. We we wanna be walking
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  the path with the communities around us,
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  from from prevention through survivorship.
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  Just to piggyback onto that, you know, we
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  we really have that expertise,
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  and the skills from our treating providers from
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  surgery to radiation oncology.
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  They are just top notch.
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  We are really bringing a new side of
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  hope. And with the new clinical trials,
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  we have the latest and greatest in the
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  imaging devices, our brachysuite and proton therapy that
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  Tom talked about are the best of their
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  kind.
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  We don't want patients to ever feel like
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  they have to leave to get innovative new
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  treatments.
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  We want them close to home. We want
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  them by their families. We want them with
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  their friends and that support that they still
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  need.
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  We have just an amazing supportive staff from
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  our nurse navigators, our dietitians,
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  our counselors, our social workers,
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  our skilled advanced,
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  practice providers and our clinics. I mean, it's
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  just amazing what we're here what we have
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  here and offering to our community.
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  Yeah. Yeah. Absolutely. And I guess going a
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  little bit further into that, in terms of
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  community health, how does OSF Cancer Institute play
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  a role into that?
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  You know, I think that, we really are
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  known for experts in the community,
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  on cancer care.
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  We do a lot in the community with
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  our screening days, having patients come in and
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  get all of their screenings done in one
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  day, come get your mammogram, a low dose
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  CT,
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  have a skin cancer check,
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  and have education.
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  Know what your risk is.
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  We have such education,
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  with our our staff. You know, they're frequent
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  visitors to our local TV stations just talking
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  about screening and the importance of nutrition and
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  exercise.
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  But we have a teaching kitchen here at
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  the Cancer Institute,
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  and this is ran by our dietitians.
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  They can sit down with the patient and
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  give them all the clinical information that they
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  need, But that teaching kitchen really is where
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  it comes alive. It's a hands on approach
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  of
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  having them learn how to,
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  make healthy recipes,
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  for those that have had a diagnosis of
• 12:31
  cancer.
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  What is the important things for them to
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  eat and,
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  to maintain their health during their treatments and
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  post treatment as well too?
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  One thing that I wanted to add to
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  that as well is is just the culture
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  in the Cancer Institute, both in the building
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  and the programs that kinda emanate from this
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  building.
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  You can feel it when you walk into
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  that building that everybody there,
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  is dedicated to being advocates for cancer patients.
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  Anyone who works in the building has gone
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  through training about what are the unique needs
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  of cancer patients,
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  what of the what services we've arrayed to
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  help them, and Teneal's gone over quite a
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  few of those. And we've asked them to
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  feel empowered to ask.
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  Is there anything you need? Is there anything
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  we can do to help you? And if
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  we see a need,
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  we try to find that that support service
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  that will fill that need. If somebody is
• 13:26
  having trouble with transportation, if they're having trouble
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  with food insecurity, whatever it may be, we
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  have the resources to help, and everybody feels
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  very much empowered,
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  to seek out that help and to align
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  that support with the need.
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  Yeah. Yeah. For sure. That that sounds amazing,
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  and I just love all the help that
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  that is offered.
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  And, I guess, adding on to that, how
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  do the teams at the Cancer Institute help
• 13:53
  patients, not just during the cancer treatment, like
• 13:55
  you all explained wonderfully, but even after, would
• 13:55
  you
• 13:57
  explained wonderfully, but even after, would you think?
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  So I'll let Teneal,
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  talk about our our we have a robust
• 14:04
  survivorship program. I just wanna say very quickly
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  once again,
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  that we feel like we are gonna walk
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  next to our community members through that whole
• 14:13
  cancer continuum.
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  Not just treating and after treating,
• 14:18
  but helping you prevent cancer, helping you find
• 14:21
  it early, helping you understand your genetic risk.
• 14:24
  And then, yes, have all of those robust
• 14:26
  treatments,
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  and then, Danilo will talk about, just a
• 14:31
  tremendous survivorship program that that she has built.
• 14:35
  So our support does not end after a
• 14:37
  cancer diagnosis.
• 14:39
  Patients are surviving and they're thriving after cancer,
• 14:43
  but it can really play a toll on
• 14:45
  a patient's body.
• 14:46
  We have put together a team of experts
• 14:49
  that really focus on life after cancer.
• 14:52
  Our start program, which is surviving, thriving, and
• 14:55
  recovering together,
• 14:57
  has nurse navigators,
• 14:58
  who are especially trained in life after cancer.
• 15:01
  We have counselors, we have dietitians,
• 15:04
  exercise specialists to really help patients recover after
• 15:07
  treatment.
• 15:08
  They're checking in with patients and assessing for
• 15:11
  physical, emotional, and financial needs,
• 15:13
  post treatment, and then getting them into those
• 15:15
  resources that we talked about earlier.
• 15:18
  After that last treatment occurs, a light switch
• 15:21
  doesn't
• 15:21
  go off and light doesn't go back to
• 15:23
  normal. So recovering from cancer can be really
• 15:26
  hard and difficult, and, we really wanna wrap
• 15:29
  our arms around these patients and be with
• 15:31
  them at every step of the way.
• 15:33
  Yes. Yes. Absolutely. Thank you so much for
• 15:35
  giving us those final thoughts. It's definitely been
• 15:38
  a very informative discussion. So I wanna thank
• 15:40
  both of you for coming on Becker's Healthcare,
• 15:42
  and speaking with me today. And I look
• 15:44
  forward to connecting with you both again soon.
• 15:47
  Thanks for having us. Thank you very much.