Stony Brook, Suffolk Hospitals Advance Cancer and Surgical Care Amid Staffing Changes

Patients on the East End can be treated closer to home at the newly opened Phillips Family Cancer Center on County Road 39 in Southampton, which News Stonybrook says “provides the only linear accelerator on the East End of Long Island,” formulates chemotherapy treatments in an on-site laboratory, and links directly to Stony Brook University Cancer Center clinical trials while surgical services remain available at Stony Brook Southampton Hospital.

Stony Brook Medicine now spans four hospitals — Stony Brook University Hospital, Stony Brook Children’s Hospital, Stony Brook Southampton Hospital and Stony Brook Eastern Long Island Hospital (SBELIH) — forming an 818-bed hospital system that includes a new medical research facility and cancer center and a large multispecialty practice in Commack, according to system materials. Paul J. Connor III, chief administrative officer at SBELIH, framed the integration this way: “Bringing together the best of academic and community medicine to continue the 114 year mission of the now Stony Brook Eastern Long Island Hospital, along with creating new healthcare options to keep healthcare local, are the overarching tenets of this union.”

At the Stony Brook University Cancer Center, the outpatient facility occupies two levels and organizes clinicians into 13 multidisciplinary, disease-oriented teams to tailor care, the Cancer Center web content states. The site emphasizes patient navigation with “oncology nurse navigators and specialized teams” and promises expanded state-of-the-art space that “respects the special needs of patients with cancer and their families,” while also asserting that “all precautions are in place to provide the safest conditions for both staff and patients at Stony Brook Cancer Center.”

The institution is positioning research and clinical work together under a unified strategy. The Cancer Center language says researchers and clinicians are joining forces: “researchers and clinicians are joining forces to build the most comprehensive, integrated and unified team with one singular purpose: to investigate, discover and drive innovations in cancer treatment.” That effort is called out specifically in the MART initiative: “Stony Brook Cancer Center researchers and clinicians are joining forces in the MART (Medical and Research Translation) to build the most comprehensive, integrated and unified team with the overall purpose to investigate, discover and drive innovations in cancer treatment.”

Department-level material for Radiation Oncology reiterates a countywide aim: “The Department of Radiation Oncology is com-mitted to helping lead the effort to make Stony Brook the designated institute for cancer care services in Suffolk County by continuing to demonstrate operational efficiency and compe-tency, enhance interdisciplinary communication, be therapeutically innovative and broaden our education and clinical research programs.”

Surgical programs and patient education remain part of that capacity. A photo caption identifies Patti Zirpoli, RN, and Aaron Sasson, MD, Chief of the Surgical Oncology Division at Stony Brook University Cancer Center. Stonybrookphysicians documents show the gynecologic oncology division performed 777 surgical procedures in 2004 (506 major and 271 minor), and notes that “Patients who require surgery are given a packet of educational material to assist them with preparing for surgery. A library of books and videotapes are available for patients and their families to review.” Stonybrookphysicians also states, “Stony Brook’s Breast Care Program is the only comprehensive academic program of its kind on Long Island,” and preserves the truncated line that the program “continues to grow at a rapid pace, now caring for an estimated 300 to 400 new patients with breast cancer each” without specifying the timeframe.

System materials also highlight a burgeoning relationship with Mount Sinai for research collaboration, academic programs and clinical care initiatives, and describe the expansion as fulfilling a long-range vision shaped by the Berger Commission 13 years ago.