Archive for December, 2009
2009 Recap
How quickly this year has passed! It is hard for us to believe that this is the last blog post for our first year on the blogging circuit! We have enjoyed bringing this new venue of information and communication to you – our cancer center patients and interested community – and we hope that you have found it to be valuable too!.
It has been quite a busy and productive year for us at Holy Cross and the Bienes Cancer Center. We have continued to grow – both in terms of patient volume and size of professional staff. During 2009 we added new subspecialties and sub-specialists to our team including colorectal surgeons – Drs. Lescher, Basu and Schochet and added a new Hematologist/Oncologist Dr. David Drew who joined us in November from the National Cancer Institute. We added new technologies in our radiation oncology department including a new ultrasound based tumor localization system and a brand new linear accelerator with IGRT (Image-guided radiation therapy) and stereotactic radiosurgery capabilities. There is no cancer center in South Florida that has more technology than we do now! And we have maintained our high touch service along with the spirituality and faith based approach that we do with everything at Holy Cross. We continued to develop our disease specific focus for our physicians so that we have dedicated teams of physicians now who focus their practices on breast cancer, prostate cancer, gastrointestinal cancers, lung cancers and colorectal cancers. This specialization is allowing us to be the true leaders in our field that patients deserve and need.
Finally we have significantly expanded our clinical research program – opening the first community hospital based phase 1 clinical trials for cancer in South Florida. We are truly excited to be able to offer these new options to patients who have exhausted all other treatments.
Thank you for participating with us on our journey. 2010 promises to be even more exciting!
Board Certified Chaplains
Recently I attended a meeting in which I listed “Board Certified Chaplain” as part of my credentials. “What’s that?” I was asked, “I’ve never heard of it.” With the thought that there may be others who also have “never heard of it,” I’d like to describe my own path toward professional chaplaincy:
During a period in my life when I was an ordained deacon and chairperson of the diaconate of my Baptist church, as well as a member of a mission group in the center of Washington, D.C., I became aware of a deepening desire for spiritual growth. I was led directly to a Quaker seminary, the Earlham School of Religion in Richmond, Indiana, where I earned a Master of Divinity degree. As part of that degree, I did a fascinating and eye-opening Clinical Pastoral Education (CPE) internship at the National Institutes of Health (NIH) in Bethesda, Maryland. Following seminary, I began working at NIH and continued my CPE training, even as I was ordained to pastoral ministry. After finishing the four required units of CPE, I went through the chaplaincy-endorsing process of my faith group, the American Baptist Churches—USA. Only after a year’s professional experience could I begin the rigorous process of national accreditation through the Association of Professional Chaplains. Now, for public recognition, my title reads: Rev. (my ordination) Joanne Afshar, M.Div. (my degree) B.C.C. (Board Certified Chaplain).
God gives the gifts to fulfill God’s calling to ministry; study and training hone understanding and skills!
“Thanks be to God for God’s indescribable gift!” (2 Corinthians 9:15).
About the Center
The Michael & Dianne Bienes Comprehensive Cancer Center in Fort Lauderdale, Florida is the Cancer Care Leader in Broward County. Dedicated to providing patients with precise diagnosis, the latest and most advanced treatment and aftercare options, we offer a multidisciplinary approach to care, a compassionate and spiritual healing environment, and an affiliation with the National Cancer Institute. We are also working together with Massachusetts General Hospital Cancer Center to provide South Florida residents with rapid access to specialized cancer care and genetics counseling.
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