Buddy Check 3: Mercy Hospital comforts patients with new breast surgery clinic

SPRINGFIELD, Mo. (KY3) - Sunday marks another Buddy Check 3 Day, which falls on the third day of every month. It’s a time when we remind you to check with a buddy to troubleshoot breast cancer.

Services for breast cancer patients here in the Ozarks continue to increase, along with the accessibility of treatment. In addition to its diagnostic breast center, Mercy Hospital now has a separate breast surgery clinic that streamlines initial treatment into a patient’s long-term survival needs.

Dr. John Bumberry says he loves the new clinic. He is the breast cancer surgeon at Mercy’s Surgery Center. This clinic is specifically designed for breast cancer patients. He says the new location is much quieter, more calm, and peaceful.

Before now, breast cancer patients like Ann Long had a much different experience on their first visit to the general surgery clinic. Ann says it was bright and filled with tons of people coming and going. She said it wasn’t just breast surgery patients and that there were all ages and genders waiting for different surgeries.

Long’s first visit was eleven years ago. Now, she and her family have been enjoying life free of cancer. She comes back for a yearly checkup.

“I didn’t know they had moved,” said Long. “I walked in, I was like ‘This is the best place ever.’ It’s calming, it’s just a more genuine atmosphere where you kind of feel seen. You feel like you are the patient and you’re the focal point.”

And the services go well beyond a breast cancer patient’s initial lumpectomy, mastectomy, or routine check-up. According to Dr. Bumberry patients may come here for benign disease, lumps or bumps that aren’t cancer or other breast issues.

He says, “so once you’ve been treated and you’re doing your survivorship, you can come back here. Genetic and high-risk evaluations are done here as well.”

Operating rooms are nearby, and consultations for plastic surgery following a mastectomy are just down the hall. It’s an orchestrated move within the Mercy system to make the breast cancer patient’s journey a little less stressful.

For more information about our Buddy Check 3 program, CLICK HERE. We’ll send you a free packet about KY3′s partnership for Buddy Check 3 with Mercy and Cox hospitals and the Breast Cancer Foundation of the Ozarks.

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