Bartlett Regional | HouseCalls | Late Fall 2016

6 HouseCalls Late Fall 2016 Effective Care Convenience and Bartlett Medical Oncology Center When longtime Juneau resident and artist Leanne Pilcher retired from the university in 2008, she pursued a lifetime goal: play golf. “It’s definitely become my passion,” she says. “I golfed every day I could this summer. It’s a great game, challenging and humbling, and yet keeps you coming back. I love it.” Pilcher is now facing a greater challenge. She is being treated for non- Hodgkin lymphoma. Diagnosed with the slow-growing form of cancer in 2010, she met Paul Weiden, MD, a Seattle oncologist who treats cancer patients in Juneau. She had appointments with Dr. Weiden annually until this year. “I’ve been very comfortable and very active over the past six years,” she says. “And then three months ago, things started to happen. We knew this was coming. The cancer became active, and Dr. Weiden requested more tests. He discovered several masses, and they require treatment.” “Leanne has a blood lymph system cancer that most commonly people live a long time with,” says Dr. Weiden. Comfortable, experienced caregivers For more than 15 years, Dr. Weiden has traveled to Juneau from Seattle for one week each month to see oncology and hematology patients referred by their primary care providers. He’s one of two physicians holding clinics at the newly expanded Bartlett Medical Oncology Center every month. He and Virginia Mason physician Thomas Malpass, MD, specialize in blood cancers; hematologic disorders, such as blood clots; breast and prostate cancer; lung cancer; and gastrointestinal malignancies. For years Dr. Weiden saw patients in Juneau while on staff at Harborview Medical Center. He has held titles including Medical Director of the Virginia Mason Cancer Clinical Research Unit and Oncology Professor of Medicine at the University of Washington. These days, the Bartlett Oncology Center is his workplace. Dr. Weiden ordered that Pilcher be treated with infusion chemotherapy every month for six months. Her chemotherapy is administered on the main Bartlett Regional Hospital campus. Nurse Tamara Collins administers infusions and other services, including blood transfusions, phlebotomies and catheter flushes. “Tamara was awesome. I felt comfortable with her,” says Pilcher. “She’s very good. She gave me reading materials even before I started the treatment.” “We do a lot of teaching,” Collins says. “We tailor a plan to meet the person’s needs.” After almost two decades administering infusion services at Bartlett, Collins is looking at retirement and training chemo and infusion nurse Sarah Androlewicz, RN. They began working together over the summer. “Sara is doing an awesome job,” Collins says. Close to home and family Back at the Bartlett Oncology Center, Pilcher expresses her gratitude for local cancer treatment. “I am so happy I made this decision,” she says. “Especially after the first round of chemo. I was able to be home and in the comfort of my own bed within just a few minutes.” Pilcher also values that being treated in Juneau means she can stay close to family. Her husband, sons, sister and mother live here. Dr. Weiden’s interest in treating Southeast Alaskan patients in Juneau began when he observed the toll traveling to Seattle could take on regional cancer patients and their families. “Sometimes you could say, look, if you go to Seattle, there is a slight chance that the outcome would be better, but you would be in Seattle for six months. You’d be pretty sick from the treatment, and maybe that isn’t worth it.” Dr. Weiden and Dr. Malpass see patients in the Southeast Radiation