T
he Big Horn Basin
Regional Cancer Center
offers personal atten-
tion and the latest treatments,
making it the preferred treat-
ment center for patients in
Cody and the surrounding
area.
“It’s great that we’re able
to treat people where they live
so they don’t have to go some-
where else,” Lillie Ennist, RN,
says.
The center is a collabora-
tion between West Park Hos-
pital and St. Vincent Health-
care. Medical oncologist Dr.
Carletta Collins and radiation
oncologist Dr. Jeffrey Gilroy
are board certified experts in
their fields.
“The biggest benefit (of the
collaboration) is that patients
receive the most modern
treatment available,” John
Vipperman, PA-C, said. “They
also feel like they’re part of
the family and are well taken
care of.”
Medical oncology
Downstairs the medical
oncology department works
hard to make their patients
feel comfortable.
“Patients are apprehensive
and rely on us because much
of what they’re going through
is unknown,” Brittney Vin-
cent, RN-OCN says.
“It’s a privilege to be able
to support them,” Jennifer
Ball, RN-CRNI, adds. “Every-
one has been touched by can-
cer at some point in their life.
I grew up here so it’s a com-
fort to know that if one of my
friends or family had cancer
they would be able to be treat-
ed here and not have to travel.
They’d have their local sup-
port system.”
All nurses have their che-
motherapy and biotherapy pro-
vider cards. Some of the nurses
also are nationally certified.
“Wes t Park Hosp i t a l
encourages and promotes
extension training,” nation-
ally certified infusion nurse
Sara Bailey, RN- CRNI, says.
There’s also an in-house
pharmacist, meaning patients
don’t have to wait for their
medications.
While receiving treatment,
patients will enjoy the new
chairs that offer both massage
and heat.
Along with their chemo-
therapy, the staff proves a
comprehensive approach to
wellness which includes pain
management, physical thera-
py, dietary needs and massage.
Patients also now are able
to receive new services that
were previously unavailable.
The center has partnered
with WPH to offer low cost
computed tomography (CT)
scans to people at high risk for
lung cancer.
The 2011 National Lung
Cancer Screening Trial results
demonstrated the benefits of
low-dose CT screenings.
“Lung cancer is the lead-
ing cause of cancer death,”
Collins said. “By the time we
diagnosed people, the cancer
typically had spread and they
didn’t survive the disease.
This new scan can find cancer
as small as one millimeter.”
People who smoke or have
a family history of lung can-
cer should seek the program,
which can increase survival
rates by 20 percent. The cost
for the screening is $450.
Recently they also began
giving Provenge. It’s an
immunotherapy that takes
the patient’s own immune
cells and reprograms them
to attack advanced prostate
cancer. This process delivers
a treatment designed for each
patient.
“It’s a vaccine therapy used
to treat prostate cancer, and
we are one of the only centers
offering the therapy in Wyo-
ming,” Collins says.
Radiation oncology
Upstairs in radiation oncol-
ogy, they are using a new lin-
ear accelerator, which was
purchased in 2013 with funds
from a $5.2 million grant from
The Leona M. and Harry B.
Helmsley Charitable Trust.
This is the first machine of its
caliber in Wyoming, Montana
or Idaho.
“Our patients deserve
access to this level of technol-
ogy, and now they have it,”
Gilroy says.
The previous linear accel-
erator was 14 years old so to
receive treatment, a patient
would lie down to be posi-
tioned on the machine, then
an X-ray would be taken to
verify proper beam placement.
Once the films were devel-
oped, the patient might have
to change positions and anoth-
er X-ray taken until proper
placement was achieved.
The new machine takes a
CT scan which they can see
almost instantly, allowing
them to adjust the patient and
deliver treatment faster.
“In the past, radiation
treatment could take up to 30
minutes,” Gilroy says. “Now it
can be done in 3-5 minutes.”
It has the ability to make
treatment fields smaller, which
means delivering more radia-
tion safely, and increases the
chance to cure patients with
fewer long-term effects. The
machine’s 150 multileaf colli-
mator also creates less unwant-
ed radiation during treatment.
The radiation oncology
department purchased a new
van last year to assist patients
getting to the offices who were
unable to or did not want to
drive.
Patients undergoing che-
motherapy treatments soon
will have that same service, as
they are getting a van for med-
ical oncology patients thanks
to funding from the West Park
Hospital Foundation and the
St. Vincent Healthcare Foun-
dation.
F-8 - Cody Progress Edition - Thursday, March 27, 2014
Our Patients’ Comments
Guide Our Patient-Centered Healthcare
The Big Horn Basin's
Regional Medical Center
707 Sheridan Ave., Cody WY 82414
(307) 527-7501
We asked our patients for feedback and
this is what we heard...
• I would personally like to thank all the
wonderful ER staff, OR staff and ICU staff who
recently cared for both of us in our critical
health situations. We very much appreciate
the excellent care we received at West Park
Hospital. We might not be alive today without
this hospital, and we well realize the importance
of a high quality hospital.
For myself, I will say that I would much rather
take care of an ICU patient than be an ICU
patient! However, I very much thank and
commend my ICU nurses — Tracy, and Mary
and also Lori Ungrund. Without their help and
concern, I could not have recovered as well as I
have.
We also want to recognize the wonderful
assistance we encountered with the Eagle
Med service. Our transportation to Denver
(University Hospital) couldn’t have been better,
and their crew was very professional.
• I’ve been a respiratory therapist for 32 years,
was a traveler for 5 of those, and small, critical
access hospitals were always my favorites to
work in, but you have the BEST! You even have
a great paint job and scenic curtains!
• I would like to give a big thank you for the
doctor that did surgery on my husband. He was
on his way out to Yellowstone with our kids on
vacation and had to have emergency surgery.
Thank you so much for taking great care of him
and my kids while he was in surgery.
• The EMS guys were great and I was thoroughly
impressed with your hospital and staff. It seems
much bigger than a 25-bed critical access
hospital and I was surprised to learn the size.
• I recently was at West Park Hospital to give
birth to twins. I was somewhat skeptical about
giving birth here instead if
Billings, but decided to do it. I
am so glad that I did. I was so
impressed with the rooms, the
care that I received, and the
nursing staff. I also thought the
steak dinner my husband and
I got was amazing. Thank you!
There were two nurses who I
thought were incredible and if
you have employee of the month,
they deserve it. They gave
exceptional care to me and my
babies and your hospital is lucky
to have them. They are Holly
and Sam. I was so lucky to have
them to care for me. I would
recommend West Park Hospital, especially the
Womens Health Pavilion to anyone.
• My husband and I would like to thank you for
a pleasant hospital experience. We were on
vacation in Cody and he ended up in the ER,
then admitted for three days. All the staff was
sincerely friendly and kind to both of us (not just
my husband). The facilities were clean and bright.
The doctors were knowledgeable and caring. We
were so thankful to be nearby West Park.
GREAT
COMMUNITY
HOSPITALS
BECKER’S
100
ACCESS
HOSPITAL
TOP
100
CRITICAL
Cancer center offers best treatment, care available
Dr. Jeffrey Gilroy talks about the new linear accel-
erator during an open house last fall.
Dr. Carletta Collins offers the latest treatments in
medical oncology.
Big Horn Basin Cancer Center nurses and staff includes (front row, from left) Beth
Stewart, RN, Casey Kingma, RN, Jennifer Ball, RN-CRNI, and Marlene Stewart,
RN-OCN, (second row, from left) Brittney Vincent, RN-OCN, Char Burt, Sara Bailey,
RN-CRNI, and Deloris Fox (third row, from left) Doug Wenke, pharmacist, Cheryl
Heydenberk, and Staci Johnson, RN.
