Dr. Doug Flora went from cancer doctor to cancer patient four years ago. Even after practicing medicine for two decades, he learned a lot being on the other side.
“I remember going through the steps in my own care and finding gaps,” he said. “Those are things that as a medical leader now, we can address them with our teams.”
Flora is the eternally bow-tied executive medical director for St. Elizabeth Healthcare’s oncology department. And he just oversaw construction of a new $130 million cancer center that he says is revolutionizing cancer care in our area.
But four years ago, he was diagnosed with kidney cancer. He had the option of going anywhere in the world, but opted for surgery at St. Elizabeth.
As a patient, he realized care didn’t begin in the exam room. It begins the moment you step foot into the hospital. That’s why he calls every person who works in the cancer center a “cancer fighter.”
“Every one. Kevin and Sara in our café are just as important to cancer care as I am. And they know it,” he said. “They know they can make a meaningful impact on that patient’s day.”
Flora spends hours each week doing his version of rounds in the building. He stops to ask patients if everyone has been kind to them. He chats with registration to make sure things are flowing smoothly.
He remembers what it was like being on the other side of the white coat.
On those rounds, he passes a yoga studio, art and music therapy rooms, a demo kitchen and an essential oil lab, which help to treat the whole patient, not just the cancer.
Kentucky has the highest cancer incidences and deaths of any state in the country. It’s a number one ranking no one wants. And it was a community assessment at roughly the time that Flora was diagnosed with cancer that proved the region needed more. “We knew that our people were dying of cancer at a greater rate than others. They wanted better access to cancer care,” he said.
Flora looks back to his time as a patient frequently as he helps to streamline processes to ensure new patients have a better experience.
“We can’t have people take this long to get in to see a doctor. Because those days as a cancer patient are interminable and terrifying,” he said. “We’ve set the bar so low in general patient care across the country that they’re used to waiting, used to having to fight for the things that are important to them and now we’re delivering it to them.”
“When we were building this, we said, ‘We’re not laying bricks, we’re building a cathedral,’” he said. “I’ve watched the growth here as an innocent bystander, then maybe as a more active player, and I couldn’t be more excited.”
He’s fighting cancer while fighting cancer. And creating an environment that he hopes will help others more easily do the same.
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