A History of Quality Care in Yakima
Yakima Valley Memorial Hospital has paved the way for cancer care in the Central Washington area for nearly 40 years. After bringing the area its first cobalt therapy unit in 1968, Memorial continues to provide the highest quality of care through state of the art technology, leading edge clinical trials, and complementary medicine. Memorial consistently supplies their patients with the latest weapons in preventing and fighting cancer.
Memorial opened North Star Lodge, a distinctive cancer care center created with the patients~ complete range of needs in mind, to help ease the burden of navigating the healthcare system. "The system doesn't always recognize that there's more to providing care than simply practicing good medicine," says Rick Linneweh, President/CEO of Memorial. Patients find comfort in the unique blend of innovative technology, expertise, and compassion wrapped in a distinctly beautiful environment, specifically designed for healing. North Star Lodge is recognized still today, five years after opening its doors, as one of the most advanced cancer care centers in the Western United States.
As the needs of the region's cancer patients continue to grow, so does North Star Lodge. A remodeling project completed in the summer of 2005 added more than nearly 8000 square feet of extra space and additional members to Memorial's already skilled cancer care team. North Star Lodge is home to an entire professional cancer care staff, including nurses, pharmacists, therapists, dosimitrists, physicists, dieticians, counselors, two radiation oncologists and five medical oncologists, all of whom are passionate about their work, as well as highly experienced, supportive and dedicated.
Patients who must receive chemotherapy and radiation are relieved to find the services available under one roof at North Star Lodge. "We brought all the elements together so our patients don't need to spend their time and energy driving all across the region to receive the various types of care their disease requires," Linneweh explains.
Cancer is one of the toughest battles in life. It challenges your integrity, diminishes your hope and affects everyone around you. In an instant, your world is turned upside-down. "We recognize that our patients are not a statistic," says Mary Marsh, Director of Medical Oncology at North Star Lodge. "Cancer affects you physically, spiritually, emotionally and socially. Our treatment approach looks at all those domains and strives to offer the highest level of care in all of them."
North Star Lodge goes beyond traditional therapy, blending innovative technology, expertise and compassion with a beautiful environment, designed for healing. A step beyond many major medical centers in the country, the comprehensive approach at North Star Lodge helps many patients and their families when their world has been turned upside down. It embraces the emotional, psychological and spiritual aspects to take care of all sides of healing and gives reason to hope.
Website: www.northstarlodge.org
