The Southern Illinois Healthcare Cancer Institute is celebrating its first year in existence.
SIH officials, a trio of cancer doctors and a cancer patient met with the media Wednesday at the facility in Carterville to commemorate the anniversary.
Director of Cancer Care Services Jennifer Badiu says they focus on the whole patient, which includes spiritual care, counseling from a licensed clinical social worker and financial counseling.
"We don't realize how expensive these treatments are going to be and quite often not covered by insurance. So, we have a financial navigator that can sit down with these patients and family and really come up with a plan that can assist them."
Radiation oncologist Dr. George Kao says the cancer institute treats patients with the latest technology.
"I've been here since 1990. We're providing the most advanced treatment here at SIH Cancer Institute. So, that a patient in southern Illinois does not have to leave to go to bigger cities."
About the time facility opened, Karen Jezierski of Carbondale was diagnosed with breast cancer. The retired nurse says having the ability to receive chemotherapy and other treatments every three weeks so close to home has been comforting during this traumatic time.
"The cancer diagnosis was devastating. Just to know if I need my doctor that he's close by, that I don't have to wait or travel far to see my physician is just great."
Jezierski says her last scan came back clean with no new tumors. Her doctor is Muhammad Popalzai. He says success stories like this are what keep him pursuing the most effective treatments possible.
"I live in Carbondale. Sometimes we see our patients hanging out in a restaurant at night, laughing with their friends, that's the best feeling, when you see them, they're doing good."
Popalzai says no other medical field has evolved more than cancer care over the past ten to 15 years with new advances in chemotherapy, biotherapy and immunotherapy.
In its first year, the SIH Cancer Institute diagnosed over a thousand new cases and enrolled 12 patients in national clinical trials.
