In our palliative care ward, we provide specifically “palliative care” that maintains QOL of patients with cancer or other life threatening diseases as well as their families. Not just treating diseases, we deal with physical pain and mental pain.
Palliative care isn’t just for terminal patients. It begins the moment you are diagnosed as having cancer. Care should continue and increase with the progression of the cancer. Also care for the family should continue even after the death of a patient. We strive to provide a team care approach to our patients and their families. We focus on providing excellent care for both each patient and his/her family. We put great importance on mutual communication between patients/families and our staff based on holistic care.
In August 2009, we increased out palliative care beds to 58 (28 beds in west ward, 30 beds in east ward). We also provide the same care (focus on QOL of a patient) in other wards. You can contact our medical social workers for more information.
Our chemotherapy center administers anticancer drugs to over 180 patients a month, which includes curative treatment, second or third line of treatment and hematopoietic stem cell transplantation. As for solid cancer, new drugs have been introduced. They provide the possibility for prolonging a patient’s life. Many patients were referred to us after the initial treatment from universities or cancer centers (mainly, gastrointestinal, breast, lung, head and neck cancer).
We do not adhere to “our own unauthorized chemotherapy” but we provide “evidence based chemotherapy” or “half a step ahead of international standard chemotherapy”. We often present our research results to the medical community and that is a reason we have gained the trust from the medical community and patients. Because of our widely known performance for hematological disease treatment, we receive many referral patients from hospitals all over Hokkaido. New treatment requests amount to over 50 patients a year and they are mostly first line treatment including autologous transplantation.
Cancer treatment drugs have been advancing every year and even the molecular target drug has been introduced in the market. It is impossible to provide cancer treatment without a team effort, which includes doctors, nurses, and pharmacists.
We are proud that our staff members are actively and voluntarily learning about new information in their fields so that they can prevent a complication of new drugs.
In recent years, breast cancer treatment has been drastically advancing. It includes the diagnosis technique, new surgical technique, and a new molecularly-targeted drug which enable us to give specific and personalized treatment. One of the reasons we established our Breast Care Center is to practice precisely those new diagnosis techniques and treatments. To decrease the number of recurrences, we try early detection and provide personalized pin-point treatment.
But even with our excellent treatment, about 30% of patients suffer recurrence. Our hospital has a history of providing recurrence treatment and treatment directed at relieving symptoms.
We think it is very important to focus on recurrence treatment and treatment directed at relieving symptoms. Breast Care Center provides broad area from diagnosis to recurrent treatment. Our staff puts great energy towards providing patient-focused care by communication with patients.
Radiation therapy, chemo therapy, and surgery are three major treatments for cancer. In recent development of therapy device and the advancement of treatment, the negative effect on normal tissue has been greatly diminished. Radiation therapy isn’t just for radical treatment but also a part of palliative treatment. It will prevent the growth of cancer and take away the pain that results in extending a patient’s life. In the U.S. and Europe, about 65% of all cancer patients receive radiation therapy. Unfortunately in Japan only 20% receive radiation therapy due to lack of equipment and radiation specialists. We started providing radiation therapy as one of the important functions in November 2009 when we opened a new ward. Our radiation therapy equipment is (CLINA-21 Ex) from Varian Inc.
We also updated our multi slice CT and MRI, which have been contributing to our successful treatments. As for a radiation therapy, please contact our radiation therapy department. Multidisciplinary treatment for cancer means a team approach, and radiation therapy will be an increasingly important part of cancer treatment.
CT
MRI
radiation therapy equipment
We have a team of volunteers from our community as part of a hospital team who are actively involved in providing some tender care so our patients and their families can have some comfort during difficult times.
Calvary is the Latin word for the site of the crucifixion of Jesus “Golgotha”, and also means a “wailing site”. Calvary Hospital, which is located in the Bronx in New York City, is a hospital specializing in the care for patients with end-stage cancer and has over 100 years of history.
Higashi Sapporo Hospital formed a sister-partnership with Calvary Hospital in 1990, and has acquired much knowledge. To commemorate the relationship, we offer the Calvary Room to patients and their families as a place of healing.
