![\"\"](\"https:\/\/new.thepinetree.net\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/03\/Cancer-Center-Team-March-2017-v2.jpg\")
<\/a><\/p>\nDr. Singhal, a board-certified Medical Oncologist\/Hematologist, adds, \u201cWe have a wonderful team in a wonderful place. Everybody works as if they are meant to be here. Our staff does not just go \u2018the extra mile\u2019 to help patients \u2013 they go an extra ten miles.\u201d<\/p>\n
The Cancer Center, located adjacent to MTMC, opened in 2011 as a local resource for cancer patients in Calaveras and surrounding counties. Dr. Singhal joined the group three years ago. She notes, \u201cCalaveras County offers the exact practice setting I was searching for because of my background in rural community health care.\u201d She is a graduate of Lady Hardinge Medical College in New Delhi, India, and did her residency in Internal Medicine at St. Joseph Hospital, University of Illinois in Chicago. While there, she worked for a year in rural areas of Illinois and Indiana and went on to become Chief
\nFellow in Hematology\/Oncology at the University of Missouri in Columbia.<\/p>\n
She and her husband Anuj Singhal then moved to Seattle where he was associated with Microsoft and she worked in the Bone Marrow Transplant Unit at Fred Hutchinson Cancer Research Center. Six months later he took a position with Ebay and the couple relocated to the Bay Area. Once they were settled in Millpitas she began looking for practice opportunities within a reasonable commute distance and that\u2019s when a friend told her about the MTMC Cancer Center. The Singhals have two sons \u2013
\nAarkan, eight, and Cyrus, who is just three months old.<\/p>\n
Dr. Singhal provides quality diagnosis and treatment services for cancer patients. She oversees a staff of six who treat an average of 250 to 300 patient visits a month. \u201cWe provide options,\u201d she explains. \u201cWe outline treatment recommendations and encourage patients to seek another opinion if they wish. Once they check with large medical centers like Stanford, University of San Francisco or UC Davis they realize we offer the same chemotherapy treatments here. I would say 99 percent of them do decide to come to us.\u201d She adds, \u201cDriving long distances for treatment causes added stress when you are fighting this disease. Patients do better in a relaxed atmosphere close to home.\u201d<\/p>\n
The Cancer Center includes a Chemo Unit and an outpatient wing with two exam rooms where Dr. Singhal sees patients and where procedures like bone marrow biopsies and PICC line inserts take place. Elaine Airola, RN, assists with outpatient services and conducts individualized, detailed patient education sessions. Heather Bunch is the center\u2019s Patient Access Representative and Tranette Lyons, LVN, also assists with patient services.<\/p>\n
Elaine notes, \u201cI\u2019ve come full circle in my career. My first experience as a RN was 30 years ago in the Oncology Lab at the University of Washington.\u201d Her nursing career has included positions in several local medical practices over the years.<\/p>\n
The Chemo Unit is located on the other side of the facility, where veteran nurses Kathie Grover, RN, and Chris Stevenson, RN, administer their special brand of care. The unit also provides blood andantibiotic infusion and other blood-related treatments and is supported by Pharmacist Chihsing Chen,who is assigned to the center by MTMC.<\/p>\n
The unit\u2019s six chairs with infusion pumps are often filled to capacity and you can expect to see smiles and hear laughter as the dynamic nurses interact with their patients. \u201cLots of people flow through herein a day,\u201d says Kathie. \u201cAnd we try to always make it a good experience for them.\u201d She has over 30years of nursing experience and worked at a Sonora facility before joining the Cancer Center when it opened. She explains, \u201cWe have all the latest technical advancements here, but we approach things differently than most chemo centers. We operate on a personal level to connect with patients and their
\nfamilies.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cThis is a compassion-based practice,\u201d Chris adds, \u201cnot an institutional experience. In a large-city setting you would most likely be known as the patient in Room102A. Not here! We get to know people because we see them often \u2013 and hopefully for a long time. We know you by name and usually we\u2019ll become friends.\u201d<\/p>\n
Kathy explains, \u201cPlaces like this are usually quiet as patients undergo chemo treatment. We take a different approach \u2013 keeping it lively and fun. That doesn\u2019t diminish the serious reasons that bringthese folks to us. We just want to help occupy the time while they are here and give them something tolook forward to when they have to come back.\u201d<\/p>\n
Chris has been at the center for three years and is particularly noted for the sports-related games hecreates as a distraction for patients. His past experience includes assignments at Stanford University,Johns Hopkins, Dana-Farber Cancer Institute and assignments at general hospitals. He first discovered Calaveras County when rotation as a travel nurse brought him to the area. \u201cI loved it so much I stayed,\u201dhe says, \u201cI have worked many places in my career and I am happier here than anywhere.\u201d<\/p>\n
Dr. Singhal is proud of her team\u2019s collaboration with local resources to meets the needs of cancer patients. She explains, \u201cWe collaborate with local surgeons, nutritionists and social workers, and the Calaveras Cancer Support Group to address the many aspects of cancer treatment. And we reach out to facilities in surrounding areas to be sure the individualized treatment plans we devise include the best options possible for that person.\u201d<\/p>\n
The MTMC Cancer Center is located at 700 Mountain Ranch Road, Suite B, in San Andreas. Recently, it expanded its services from four to five days a week \u2014 now open Monday through Friday. For information call 209-754-9670.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
San Andreas, CA…Compassionate care in a friendly, convenient setting draws an ever-increasing number of patients to the Cancer Center at Mark Twain Medical Center in San Andreas. \u201cWe treat our patients like family,\u201d says Center Director Dr. Shiva Singhal, MD, MPH. \u201cWe provide the same high quality care here close to home as you would […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1599,"featured_media":36251,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_cbd_carousel_blocks":"[]","jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":true,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[7,20,1,8],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-36249","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-communities","category-featured","category-news","category-san-andreas","last_archivepost"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/new.thepinetree.net\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/03\/Cancer-Center-Team-March-2017-v2.jpg","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack-related-posts":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/new.thepinetree.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/36249","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/new.thepinetree.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/new.thepinetree.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/new.thepinetree.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1599"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/new.thepinetree.net\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=36249"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/new.thepinetree.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/36249\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/new.thepinetree.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/36251"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/new.thepinetree.net\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=36249"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/new.thepinetree.net\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=36249"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/new.thepinetree.net\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=36249"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}