by John Dowd
Last Thursday, Bitterroot Health held a grand opening for its new oncology department which has been in the works for nearly 23 months. Started in 2018, Bitterroot Health decided to re-renovate a portion of the building to better treat local cancer patients. The facility will utilize a tele-health program run out of Salt Lake City, Utah, called Intermountain Healthcare. The program will employ experts out of state to speak with patients in real time, allowing patients to receive expert treatment and advice locally.
“Our mission is to keep our patients close to home,” said Chief Nursing Officer, Kathy Padilla. She and Senior Director of Patient Care, Jennifer Bush, helped to spearhead the project. “Telehealth opened the door to bring this help to a small community,” said Bush.
The project was supposed to begin construction in 2020 but was delayed due to COVID-19. However, the project retained momentum, and was finally finished. Though there were several challenges through the process, CEO John Bishop said, “It didn’t come without surprises and we took them in stride.” The department will officially open, begin oncology services and start seeing patients in June.
According to Bush, the new facilities will allow patients to stay in Ravalli County to receive chemotherapy treatments. Previously, cancer patients would have to make frequent trips to Missoula. Now, patients can get these critical treatments in their own county. Bush also explained that the long drive and expense often discouraged patients from even seeking treatment. According to her, this will increase the likelihood patients will want to seek treatment.
Another outcome of the new oncology department is the extension of the job of Doral Vial. Vial works as an Auxiliary volunteer and provides numerous services to cancer patients, including customer care. For six years, her main job has been to keep patients happy and comfortable. Vial, herself, was a cancer patient. According to her, “the most important part of my job” is giving patients warm blankets while they receive chemotherapy. This has colloquially earned her the nickname, “warm blanket lady.” One of many reasons of importance regarding the blankets is that chemo patients often get very cold during the treatment. The blankets help mitigate that side effect. She will continue her position handing out blankets, among other services.
Christina D says
This seems misleading. Cancer patients were already receiving chemotherapy at the same facility, but with doctors who traveled in person from St Patrick’s hospital. From personal experience i can say that telehealth is very impersonal when you’re discussing life threatening cancer treatments. This seems like a major downgrade from having compassionate doctors from St. Pat’s provide care for local patients.