NCCCP Cancer Centers: The Queen's Medical Center Among Chosen Few

When cancer care becomes necessary, Hawaii residents don't have to look any further than the Queen's Cancer Center, which has become one of 14 new sites chosen by the National Cancer Institute (NCI)—a part of the National Institutes of Health—to join a network of community cancer centers that offer expanded research and leading edge cancer care at community hospitals. There are now just 30 such community hospitals out of 6,000 nationwide. The program is called the NCI Community Cancer Centers Program (NCCCP). “Patients don't need to travel elsewhere to get great cancer care,” asserted Paul Morris, MD, FACS, Chair of the Queen's Cancer Committee. “We've taken the good work we're doing here and measured ourselves against national standards. There is no greater honor…than to be chosen by the NCI to bring the newest research and best care to its community.”

Established in 2007, the NCCCP used $40 million in funding from the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act to expand its number of community hospital-based sites from 16 to 30. “NCI's mission is to reduce the burden of cancer for all,” said Art Ushijima, QHS/QMC President. “The NCI estimates that 85 percent of cancer patients are diagnosed and treated within community hospitals, close to a patient's home. The NCCCP extends the NCI cancer program into local communities like ours, giving patients easier access to state-of-the-art cancer care and clinical trial opportunities.”

The Queen's Medical Center Honors Pearl Whittaker as Employee of the Year

The Queen's Medical Center's Employee of the Year represents just one example of excellence among many. Supporting each honoree is a team of 3,700 dedicated professionals. Thus, it is with pride that Queen's honored Pearl Whittaker, Senior Cardiovascular Sonographer of Queen's Heart, as Employee of the Year for 2009. Whittaker was named Employee of the Month in January 2009. The Employee of the Year is chosen from among 12 monthly honorees.

Whittaker was inspired to seek a career in health care because of her sister, who was diagnosed with a congenital heart defect at age 2. What is routine now was traumatic in the early 1960s. Queen's had performed the first adult open heart surgery in Hawaii in 1959, but it was not yet available for children. Whittaker's sister and one parent would have had to travel to San Francisco and stay for a long time, which was then out of reach for the family. They were able to wait until Children's Hospital began to perform open heart surgeries, and Whittaker's sister became the fifth child patient in Hawaii in 1964. She remembers that her sister had to have invasive cardiac catheter exams; each required a one week stay in the hospital. Now, same day noninvasive echocardiograms are given to patients instead. Echocardiograms evaluate the anatomy and blood flow of the heart, its valves and related blood vessels using ultrasound technology.