Center provides IV therapy, chemotherapy, other services for women and children in treatment for cancer and other blood disorders.
Center provides IV therapy, chemotherapy, other services for women and children in treatment for cancer and other blood disorders. By IND Staff
Photos by Doug Dugas Photography
Dr. Ammar Morad and Eddie Paul Bearb, 8, a pediatric oncology patient
In early June, Women's & Children's Hospital opened The Cancer & Infusion Center, a place where women and children receive the infusions, transfusions, injections and other related services without having to leave the Lafayette area.
"Cancer and blood disorders are not new to Acadiana, but the convenience of having an infusion center dedicated to treating women and children close to home is," Dr. Ammar Morad, pediatric hematologist/oncologist with the Kids Specialty Center at Women's & Children's Hospital, says in a press release.
The Cancer & Infusion Center, under the medical direction of Morad and doctors with Louisiana Oncology Associates, is an outpatient infusion center offering a compassionate and comforting environment. This state-of-the-art center features three adult infusion bays and, on the pediatric side, five infusion bays with two additional infusion bays that offer more privacy, if needed. Each bay features a comfortable chair, television and other amenities.
The nurses and staff have extensive training and experience in providing quality service to oncology and blood disorder patients. In addition, the hospital's Child Life Specialist Program provides age-appropriate approaches to help the littlest patients and their loved ones better understand procedures and treatment options.
"The Child Life Specialists really bring a unique aspect to the treatment pediatric patients will receive at the Cancer & Infusion Center," center Director Evelyn Goodrow says in the release. "Another unique aspect is our on-site, dedicated pharmacy, which will help to expedite the treatment process."
The Cancer & Infusion Center's medical professionals have established professional relationships with the OB-GYNs, breast surgeons and other doctors who have overseen the patients' care for quite some time, Goodrow adds. These relationships ensure a continuity of care.
The Cancer & Infusion Center is open from 8 a.m. to 4:30 p.m. Monday through Friday on the third floor of Building E on the Women's & Children's Hospital campus, the same facility that houses the Kids Specialty Center and Women's & Children's Hospital Outpatient Services. Services include chemotherapy, blood products and transfusions, hydration and fluids, medication injections, IV antibiotics and central line care.
Janie Eldridge (left), Child Life specialist with Women's & Children's Hospital, Dr. Ammar Morad, pediatric hematologist/oncologist and medical director for the Cancer & Infusion Center, and Mikell Gore, 13, a pediatric oncology patient, make "blood soup," an activity the Child Life program at Women's & Children's Hospital uses to explain leukemia.