Public input on cancer center good approach

When Yuma’s hospital opened its heart care center several years ago, it became possible for local residents to get the treatment and heart intervention they needed without having to go to other cities. It provided comfort and convenience for both the patients and their families that they would be able to remain here in a time of crisis.

We often hear how much this opportunity is valued.

Now a similar opportunity is coming for those who have cancer, and we predict it will be just as welcomed and valued.

Yuma Regional Medical Center plans to open a comprehensive 30,000-square-foot cancer center in 2013 or early 2014. Ground will be broken for it in the spring.

It will provide the kind of advanced care for cancer patients that currently requires out-of-town trips to larger metropolitan areas like Phoenix or Tucson. It will also address the needs of families who need emotional support and counseling to cope with the life-threatening illness of their loved one.

Significantly, YRMC wants the community to provide its own input about what it would like to see the cancer center program provide here. Who knows better than those suffering from cancer or those having family members with the disease about what the needs are? Feedback can be provided online at www.yumaregional.org/dream.

Also significant is that the local cancer center plans to affiliate with a major medical school, which will be announced soon.

Dr. Gregory Yang, YRMC’s medical director, said that the cancer center plans to adapt continually to the latest advances in cancer care.

Clearly, when all of this is achieved, our community will have top-rate cancer care, adding to the ever-growing spectrum of health care available here.