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Bridging Communities: The UK Markey Cancer Center Affiliate Network · Talking FACS

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  Welcome to Talking FACS, and thank you for tuning in to Cancer Conversations
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  on Talking FACS, a podcast collaboration between the University of Kentucky
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  Markey Cancer Center and the UK College of Agriculture, Food and Environment's
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  Cooperative Extension Service.
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  We will share with you the latest developments in cancer prevention,
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  diagnosis, treatment, and research from the experts at Markey Cancer Center,
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  Kentucky's only National Cancer Institute-designated cancer center.
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  Talking FACS is hosted by the UK Family and Consumer Sciences Extension Program.
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  Our educators share research knowledge with individuals, families,
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  and communities to improve quality of life.
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  Hello, and welcome to Cancer Conversations on Talking FACS. This is your host, Dr.
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  Jennifer Hunter, Assistant Director for Family and Consumer Sciences Extension at
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  the University of Kentucky.
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  Today, I'm pleased to be joined by Dr. Timothy Mullett and Ms.
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  Cheri Tolle. with the University of Kentucky Markey Cancer Center.
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  Dr. Mullett, I'd like to start with you. Could you introduce yourself and tell
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  us a little bit about your role with Markey?
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  Hello, I'm Tim Mullett. I'm a thoracic surgeon at the University of Kentucky
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  and have been here for 26 years and have enjoyed working with a lot of different
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  aspects of patient care.
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  Most recently, I've been involved in the Markey Cancer Center Affiliate Network
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  as the medical director.
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  And so I got the opportunity to work with physicians from across the state to
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  be able to talk about how we can improve cancer care together.
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  And Cheri, would you mind to introduce yourselves to our listeners?
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  Yes. Good morning. Cheri Tolle. I'm the Administrative Director for the Markey
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  Cancer Center Affiliate Network.
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  I am going on my 35th year with UK, always with the Markey Cancer Center.
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  And I'm delighted to be with you this morning.
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  Today, I'm excited to talk about the UK Markey Cancer Center Affiliate Network.
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  And especially since our podcast is shared quite broadly across the state of
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  Kentucky, that we have reached into all 120 counties.
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  And today, we're going to talk about community hospitals and how they can collaborate
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  with the UK Markey Cancer Center.
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  And I wanted to start with just a basic question of, can you tell us more or
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  tell us exactly what is the UK Markey Cancer Center Affiliate Network.
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  The Markey Cancer Center Affiliate Network is a collaboration between community
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  hospitals and the Markey Cancer Center,
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  which is a National Cancer Institute-designated cancer center,
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  and it is also the academic medical center at the University of Kentucky.
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  We started in 2006 with three hospitals, and 15 years later,
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  we have 19 hospitals across the state.
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  And it's an opportunity for community hospitals to work with the Markey Cancer
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  Center to ensure high-quality cancer care,
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  to provide patients with the option to be close to home for their cancer care, if at all possible.
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  But if for whatever reason the care is too complex or there are procedures or
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  treatments that are not available locally, we are available to provide that
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  service for them at the Markey Cancer Center in Lexington.
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  And now, Sherry, when we're talking about the UK Markey Cancer Center Affiliate
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  Network, y'all often use an acronym that is simply M-C-C-A-N said MCCAN. Is that correct?
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  That is correct. We are affectionately known as MCCAN, and many of the folks
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  that are familiar with our program will refer to us as McCAN.
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  Excellent. And so can y'all tell me a little bit, how did McCAN get started? Okay.
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  Originally, we had a few of our medical oncologists that were providing outreach
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  clinics at some of our sites, and these community hospitals were really looking for a couple of things.
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  They were looking for a more formal relationship with an academic medical center,
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  and they also wanted to initially look for opportunities for additional education for their staff.
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  And this was primarily in the beginning for their nurses.
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  And they were very interested in how they could improve some of the educational
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  opportunities that their nurses had.
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  And as we started working with them and looking at a more formal process,
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  we realized that there was an opportunity to develop a network of community
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  hospitals that could not only be connected with the Markey Cancer Center,
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  but could also be connected with one another.
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  And so in 2006, we started with three hospitals, Rockcastle Regional Hospital in Mount Vernon, St.
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  Clair Regional Medical Center in Moorhead, and Harrison Memorial Hospital in Cynthia.
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  And with those three hospitals, we started providing professional education
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  opportunities for their staff.
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  We offered community outreach and educational programs for their communities
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  and a more formalized relationship between the providers with those hospitals
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  and with the Markey Cancer Center.
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  Excellent. So, Dr. Mullett, you shared with me that Markey Cancer Center is
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  Kentucky's only National Cancer Institute designated cancer center.
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  Why is the NCI Cancer Center designation important?
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  Well, thank you, Jennifer. That's a great question. Our interest in maintaining
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  the designation by the National Cancer Institute or the NCI is that it provides
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  access to certain clinical trials,
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  to certain procedures that are only available to those designated programs.
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  It's a grant system that is offered through the National Institutes of Health,
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  and it recognizes the quality of research that's being done at an institution.
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  And we really feel that this is a great way for us to collaborate with our community
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  partners through the McCann because what we can offer here at Markey Cancer
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  Center in terms of advanced level research is something that they can't offer in their own facility.
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  And so our opportunity to be able to share with our colleagues in the community
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  the research that we have available for their patients is a unique opportunity
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  and one that can only be offered at Markey Cancer Center.
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  Excellent. Can you tell me a little bit about how high quality cancer care is defined? Sure. Sure.
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  We felt for several years now that if a program wanted to be identified as an affiliate with Markey,
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  that we wanted to make sure that they were being held to a standard that was
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  an expectation for quality cancer care.
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  And so examining opportunities for how to define that, we lean on the Commission
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  on Cancer Accreditation.
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  That's a program that's offered nationally, and programs of all sizes can participate
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  in the multiple standards that exist and quality measures, which allow us to
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  evaluate the quality of care that's being delivered.
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  It looks at the effectiveness of training of physicians and nurses.
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  It looks at the data that they collect, and it looks at how they take care of
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  patients and programs and services that are being offered.
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  And so one of the unique features of McCann is is that we have the ability to
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  monitor programs when they are striving to maintain accreditation by the Commission on Cancer.
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  So we help them with educational programs, with other services,
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  with consultative services to be able to help them work through those standards
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  so that they are maintaining that accreditation and can be really proud of that.
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  So that's a great resource for a a community program to be able to offer accreditation
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  by a national and we help them move right on through.
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  So it's been excellent for all of our programs to be able to see the pride that
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  develops in their own community and in their own facility and a chance for us
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  to be able to help them maintain that.
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  Excellent. Excellent. Cheri, both you and Dr. Mullett have talked a little
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  bit about the services that community hospitals receive as part of the Markey Network.
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  Would you care to expand on that a little bit?
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  Sure. I mentioned that we do offer professional education and training programs for our sites.
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  And initially, it was primarily for nurses. But as we know, cancer is a multidisciplinary disease.
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  And so, as we have grown over the years, our opportunities have expanded to
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  all kinds of health professional disciplines.
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  So we offer both web-based and in-person educational programs and opportunities
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  for nurses, PAs, social workers, registered dietitians, and other support staff at our sites.
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  We also offer shadowing and mentoring opportunities.
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  This was suspended during the pandemic, but we are starting to get back into
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  inviting folks if one of our sites hires a new social worker or hires a new
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  chemotherapy nurse and would like to shadow somebody at working,
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  we provide the opportunity to do that.
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  We also have what we call an affiliate liaison program.
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  And that is staffed by nurse navigators, nurse liaisons that can help our sites
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  with streamlined referrals if they have patients that cannot be cared for locally at a hospital.
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  We have nurse liaisons that can work with the providers to make sure that that's
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  a smooth process for that patient to come to Lexington for either a second opinion
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  or for a type of treatment that isn't available locally.
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  And those nurse liaisons also talk with the patient so that the patient has
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  someone before they even come to Markey that can assess any barriers,
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  talk to them about what to expect,
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  help them in feeling more comfortable coming to Lexington.
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  And as you know, in many of our rural communities, Lexington is perceived as a big city.
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  And for somebody who's worked at UK for decades, we know that sometimes it may
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  be challenging for parking or because of the different additions for buildings,
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  you're not sure where to go.
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  And so our affiliate liaison program can help patients feel a little bit more
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  comfortable coming to Markey for the first time. And then, as Dr.
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  Mullett mentioned, with our quality mandate for the Commission on Cancer,
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  we have a quality team of coordinators who work with our sites to provide that
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  extra set of eyes and that expertise for their Commission on Cancer accreditation.
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  With our community outreach education and screening opportunities.
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  We work closely with our folks to make sure that the communities are aware of
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  all of the programs and services that are available.
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  At that community hospital and that they are part of the Marquee Affiliate Network.
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  Thank you. Dr. Mullett, I think that through our conversation today,
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  it's been clear the benefits that are provided through the Markey Cancer Center Affiliate Network.
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  As we wrap up today, from a patient perspective, why would a patient want to
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  go to a hospital that is part of the Markey Network?
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  So I think you touched on something that's important for us,
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  and that's that we really want to make sure that we provide value to those facilities.
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  Part of that is through education and part of it is through our assistance with
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  their COC accreditation.
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  We want to make sure that we have value to Markey so that patients that need
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  to be in those clinical trials that we offer have a ready access to be able to get into that.
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  And then we provide advantages to the patient and by extension to the community.
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  So patients who participate in care at an affiliate network or site should know
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  that they have access to what we believe is a high standard of quality for a community program,
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  but they also have the backup of collaboration with our clinicians,
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  our physicians, and experts in Markey Cancer Center because that's really what we want to provide.
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  We want that to be the first choice of care for a patient should be to go to
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  their community program to know that when the time is right,
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  Markey Cancer Center stands next to them with an ability to offer those specialized
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  services in a seamless referral path through our nurse liaisons.
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  And to be able to make sure that if they have questions, then they can communicate
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  directly with us to be able to answer some of those complex questions that come up about patients.
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  Maybe that means the patient can be cared for directly in their own community
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  with the assistance of information from our experts.
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  Maybe it means the patient needs to be transferred to Markey for a certain portion
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  of their care and then return to their community.
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  But our hope is that all of these patients find that they are getting better
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  care through the collaboration between the community site and Markey Cancer Center. Excellent.
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  Dr. Mullett and Cheri, thank you so much for joining us today and helping our
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  listeners learn more about how they can seek cancer care close to home that
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  is supported through the UK Markey Cancer Center affiliate network. work.
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  For our listeners, our guests have provided links today, if you would like to
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  learn more about McCAN, that will be available in our show notes.
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  Again, thank you all so much for joining us. Thank you, Jennifer. Thank you, Jennifer.
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  Thank you for listening to Cancer Conversations on Talking FACS.
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  Our goal is to connect you with the latest advances in cancer research in the Commonwealth.
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  If you enjoyed today's podcast and have a suggestion for a future show topic,
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  please message us on the UK Markey Cancer Center Facebook page at facebook.com
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  forward slash UK Markey or visit our website at markey.uky.edu for more information.
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  You can find University of Kentucky Family and Consumer Sciences Extension programs
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  at your local extension office or online at fcs.uky.edu.
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  Building strong families, building Kentucky. It starts with us.
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  Music.