Cancer Center – Johnson City

Our goal is to deliver safe, appropriate, high quality, interdisciplinary managed care using plans of care, standards of care and practice, clinical pathways and ancillary staff, as well as customer service initiatives. We strive to provide patient/family/significant others with education that reflects an assessment of learning needs, abilities, readiness to learn, cultural/religious practices, physical/cognitive limitations, possible language barriers, and to always respect the patient’s right to privacy and confidentiality. Our center offers support services such as:

• Registered dietitian
• Medical social worker
• Oncology nurse educator
• Cancer navigator
• Onsite pharmacy
• Onsite pharmacist and pharmacy specialist
• Clinical professor of pharmacy
• Lab services with special pathology

Navigating your way through cancer treatment isn’t always easy. In addition to the physical and emotional stress, there’s also a lot to keep up with – like educating yourself about your diagnosis, learning about your treatment options and keeping up with medications, appointments, insurance and payments.

Because it can be overwhelming, our cancer navigators are available so our patients will have someone to guide them through this difficult journey. From the initial diagnosis through doctor visits, surgery and other treatments, cancer navigators are there to help. They can assist with all aspects of cancer care, whether someone needs help making an informed decision, communicating with a doctor or just needs a shoulder to lean on.

We participate in clinical trials offered by the National Cancer Institute and East Tennessee State University, along with other major cancer research studies. Our cancer care staff routinely reviews patient records to determine eligibility for clinical trials.

Johnson City Medical Center was the first hospital in the region to offer stereotactic radiosurgery for brain tumors in 1997. With the recent opening of a new state-of-the-art radiation oncology facility, we are able to offer highly precise and specific treatments for our patients.

Specifically, image-guided treatments will allow us to adapt therapy to the changing anatomy of tumors with the use of onboard CT scanners. We will be better able to track the motion of tumors in challenging areas of the body, improving both the success and the safety of treatments.

These abilities will combine to allow us to deliver shorter courses of therapy. Rather than daily treatments for seven weeks, some lung cancers, for instance, can be treated in only three to five treatments. These new systems will also allow us to deliver a particular radiation therapy treatment in a shorter time, with many treatments taking only three minutes or so to do.

Radiation oncology services

Our radiation oncology facility provides the following services:

• Cancer navigators
• Two state-of-the-art Elekta linear accelerators
• Nutritional assessments & social service assessments
• External beam radiation therapy
• High dose rate brachytherapy
• Low dose rate brachytherapy
• Stereotactic radiosurgery
• Intensity-modulated radiation therapy (IMRT)
• Image-guided radiation therapy (IGRT)
• Superficial/orthovoltage treatment
• Custom block preparation
• PET/CT
• Survivorship counseling and education
• Meditation room
• Children’s playroom

Ballad Health Cancer Care – Johnson City has an oncology hematology program dedicated to treating patients with both malignant and benign diseases of the blood and immunologic disorders.

Innovative medical knowledge and new treatment methods allow our team to successfully treat and manage many hematologic disorders, including:

• Red blood cells
• White blood cells
• Platelets
• The immune system
• Bone marrow
• Blood clots
• Coagulation (such as hemophilia)
• Leukemia
• Lymphoma
• Multiple myelomas

Our team works closely with medical experts in radiation oncology, internal medicine, family practice and surgery to ensure the best ongoing care for our patients. Our Regional Cancer Center is the only hospital in Tennessee besides UT Knoxville, Vanderbilt, UT Memphis and TriStar Sarah Cannon, to provide malignant hematology services, including induction chemotherapy for AML/ALL, high-grade lymphoma and aplastic anemia.

Our 2017 Cancer Center Annual Report may be downloaded or viewed below.