Dr. John Deeken says that when he heard 12 years ago that Inova was opening a dedicated cancer center in Northern Virginia, he immediately thought, “I gotta find out what’s going over there.”
Shortly before the Inova Schar Cancer Institute opened, Deeken was named president, and as the center approaches its fifth anniversary next month, Deeken says there’s no place like it.
He says the structure of the center was based around the patient’s experience. Dealing with cancer usually means signing on with a bunch of different doctors, and that can mean a lot of driving — or even traveling to other cities.
But at the Schar Center, Deeken says, “When a new patient comes, all those physicians meet the patient in the same day, in the same exam room, and come up with a plan together. And we know if you do that, you not only start treatments in a more coordinated and a more quick way, but also, outcomes — which, in cancer, is literally survival — are better.”
That means doctors “see each other in the hallway,” leading to the kind of informal communication “that just can make all the difference in terms of care coordination, which is oftentimes very complicated,” Deeken says. “Sometimes it’s less efficient for the physicians, but it’s far better for patient care. So that’s our model here.”
The center also includes therapy, support groups, exercise classes, and other ways to help patients “as they go through their cancer journey and hopefully, their survivorship thereafter.”
It seems to be working: Figures provided by the cancer center show the institute saw 48,000 patients last year, and saw a 20 percent increase in clinic visits over 2022. In 2023, there were 106,095 visits to the clinics.
The main center is in Fairfax, but regional sites in Loudoun, Fair Oaks, and Alexandria make it easier for people to access care, “because you can be 10 miles away, but if there’s bad traffic, it’s an hour drive,” Deeken says.
Deeken says the Inova Schar Cancer Institute combines the best of a university-based cancer center — the ability to be part of cutting-edge clinical trials and the presence of residents and fellows to “keep physicians on top of their game” — with the best of a nonprofit community-based organization. He says the center provided $25 million of free care to people who needed it, and runs cancer screenings in community settings.
Deeken credits the more than 2,000 workers at the institute — from the doctors to the people at the front desk to the medical assistants who take blood pressures — for “their commitment to the patients, their empathy, their shiny disposition when patients are going through this awful journey.”
He adds, “Here it’s the rule that our employees, our team members, from front door to last appointment are just incredible at what they do and [in] the enthusiasm, empathy, compassion they bring to our patients every day.”
Featured image courtesy Inova Health System
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