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Wilford Hall opens cancer resource center

  • Published
  • By Sarah Franco
  • 59th Surgical Inpatient Squadron
LACKLAND AIR FORCE BASE, Texas --  A cancer resource center, dedicated to patient care and education, is opening March 31 in the basement of Wilford Hall Medical Center.

The center, located in Room BL18 near the hospital's emergency department, offers more than 130 pamphlets with information on topics ranging from specific types of cancers to how to speak to a doctor during treatments. The information is available to anyone who is interested, including patients, family members, friends and providers.

In addition to the pamphlets, the center also offers a search service where anyone can request information on specific topics, such as types of treatments or support agencies for cancer patients.

The center is scheduled to be open from 1 to 4:30 p.m. Tuesdays and from 9 to 11 a.m. and 12:30 to 3 p.m. Thursdays. During these hours, all pamphlets will be available and someone will be on hand to answer questions and run Internet searches. At all other times, some information will be available in room BL 13, the Wilford Hall General Surgery Department waiting room, and outside the resource center. People can also fill out request forms asking for more specific information.

The idea for the resource center came from Col. (Dr.) David L. Smith, chairman of the Wilford Hall Department of Surgery and chief of surgical oncology. He wanted to make it easier for cancer patients to have access to accurate information.

"Right now, there's no focal point," said Colonel Smith. "Any patient with cancer is inundated with information from friends, from family members, from medical professionals and from the Internet. The center is a resource they can use to get approved, valid information that answers their questions."

According to health professionals, patients are becoming more and more hands-on in their own treatment because they have access to more information than ever before, particularly from the Internet. But, not all the information is good information.

"Patients get misinformation because they don't know how to tell opinion from fact," said Colonel Smith. "Lots of opinions are available on the Internet, but a lot of what patients find is out of context, or patients don't know how to interpret it."

According to surgical physician assistant Pat Goaley, the cancer resource center will lessen stress for cancer patients because most go home, get on the Internet, look up their diagnosis and get overwhelmed.