QMG Cancer Institute is Here for Our Community’s Oncology Patients

Among the most vul­ner­a­ble dur­ing the ongo­ing COVID-19 pan­dem­ic are patients cur­rent­ly under­go­ing care and treat­ment for can­cer. The Quin­cy Med­ical Group (QMG) Can­cer Insti­tute has tak­en extra pre­cau­tions to ensure oncol­o­gy patients can con­tin­ue their need­ed treat­ments in a safe environment.

QMG Direc­tor of Oncol­o­gy Clin­i­cal Ser­vices Sarah Nolin­win­kler shares, ​“We are the front line for can­cer care in our com­mu­ni­ty; the ser­vices we are offer­ing have not waivered and we are con­tin­u­ing an unpar­al­leled care expe­ri­ence for our patients. We are cur­rent­ly fol­low­ing rec­om­men­da­tions as guid­ed by the CDC and oncol­o­gy-spe­cif­ic resources.”

The team of oncol­o­gists at QMG is lead­ing efforts and pro­vid­ing their exper­tise to help patients and staff nav­i­gate this dif­fi­cult time. QMG oncol­o­gists eval­u­ate their sched­ules dai­ly to deter­mine the best way to approach the care they pro­vide to their patients. Many ser­vices remain the same with the addi­tion of added mea­sures to pro­tect both patients and staff.

These mea­sures include:

• All staff is wear­ing a mask (cloth or pro­ce­dure) depend­ing upon whether or not they are in direct patient care.
• Patients are asked to bring and wear a mask, or QMG will pro­vide them with one.
• Vis­i­tors are restrict­ed dur­ing this time. Only patients are allowed at this time unless their oncol­o­gist feels it nec­es­sary that guests attend with the patient.
• As patients enter the Can­cer Insti­tute, a mem­ber of the QMG care team is screen­ing for symp­toms of COVID-19 and tak­ing action appro­pri­ate­ly along with pro­vid­ing reminders to our patients about safe phys­i­cal dis­tanc­ing and good hand hygiene.
• The care team is assess­ing the patient sched­ule often and shift­ing patients in order to safe­ly place peo­ple in every oth­er treat­ment chair to uphold the social dis­tanc­ing recommendations.
• Our staff is per­form­ing hourly clean­ing on all high touch points with­in our facil­i­ty along with dis­in­fect­ing areas fol­low­ing patient usage.
• Our staff is per­form­ing hand hygiene often and also encour­ag­ing our patients to do so as well.

Dur­ing this time, rec­om­men­da­tions are to stay home if at all pos­si­ble. How­ev­er, for patients under­go­ing can­cer treat­ment that’s not possible.

Nolin­win­kler said these extra pre­cau­tions along with the sup­port of the Can­cer Insti­tute care team should help put patients at ease.

“We real­ize that hav­ing a can­cer diag­no­sis can make this unfa­mil­iar pan­dem­ic even more fright­en­ing and we know that togeth­er we will get through this,” she shared. ​“Our care team is all heart, full of grit, and each mem­ber of this team is fight­ing COVID-19 right along­side with our patients. We con­tin­ue to take nec­es­sary pre­cau­tions to alle­vi­ate those fears so when our patients walk through our doors they feel com­fort­ed know­ing they can stay the course, remain dili­gent in pro­tec­tive mea­sures, and focus on their can­cer journey.”

When pos­si­ble, the oncol­o­gy team is offer­ing tele­health, or vir­tu­al, care for patients for their appoint­ments allow­ing them to con­nect to the oncol­o­gist from their home.

Though wor­ries are height­ened around COVID-19, Nolin­win­kler wants to remind patients the Can­cer Insti­tute team is here for their patients.

“ ​‘We are in this togeth­er’ are the words of encour­age­ment through­out our nation and it remains true right here in the heart of our com­mu­ni­ty,” she shared. ​“Our physi­cians, our care team, and our patients will con­tin­ue fight­ing this pan­dem­ic together.”

For more infor­ma­tion on the QMG Can­cer Insti­tute, vis­it quin​cymed​group​.com or call 217−277−4070.