Valley Radiation celebrates 10 years in the Valley

PALMER — Ten years ago, the Wasilla-Palmer area wasn’t quite so populated as it is now, and for those stricken with cancer, radiation therapy meant a drive to Anchorage.

Already an unpleasant prospect, winter conditions could make the necessary treatments nearly impossible at times. A new hospital constructed in Palmer, however, made the possibility of a cancer center in the Valley far more tenable.

“Some of the providers said, ‘hey there, Rich, we’ve been sending patients down to Anchorage for years, but now that we’ve got a medical office building attached to the hospital, are you interested in bringing radiation and oncology services to the Valley?” said Dr. Richard Chung, one of four partners in Anchorage and Valley Radiation. “I said, ‘yep, this is going to work.”

In November of 2006, Valley Radiation has opened its doors, and in 2014, Dr. John Yordy, a Dallas native who’d done his residency at the prestigious MD Anderson Cancer Center in Houston, arrived to be the on-site oncologist.

“Dr. Yordy lives in the Valley, whereas I live in Anchorage,” Chung said. “It’s very important for a physician to be living in the community where they’re serving.”

“A lot of patients don’t like to make that drive (to Anchorage),” Yordy said. “It causes a lot of stress, and with it here, sometimes they can drive themselves instead of needing someone to go with them. I just think being closer to home is much more convenient because they can continue to work, and we have a lot who can work through treatements.”

Of course, local treatment is only beneficial if the equipment is comparable to what it is in the city. And with a linear accelerator that Chung likens to the “Ferrari of radiation oncology equipment,” the facility on the first floor of the Mat-Su Regional Medical Center certainly meets that standard, along with a biometric machine that can attune to each patient’s special circumstance.

“You need a machine with good imaging capabilities, so, for instance, you can watch a patient live-motion breathe if there’s a tumor in the lung and you can place the entire movement into the radiation targeting,” Yordy said. “You can treat the tumor through all phases — it’s really an advanced technique to very precisely deliver radiation each day.”

Chung said that over the 10 year span, Valley Radiation has served an average of 140 to 150 patients per year, pushing the number to about 1,500 to date. He said the four partners routinely assess each other’s work for quality assurance. “QA rounds, at most academic centers are 1 day a week and we do four days a week,” Yordi said. “We do a peer review consensus and studies have been done that show patients who get treated with a rigorous QA have a better survival rate. It’s an important process.”

Just ahead of November’s 10-year anniversary, Valley Radiation hosted its third straight ‘Breastival’ in the main lobby of the hospital which invites everyone to come learn more about breast cancer and the importance of early detection, along the way providing games, food and prizes.

“When attendees check in they get a passport, and when they visit each of the tables, they play a game, answer a trivia question and get a fun gift,” said Anchorage and Valley Radiation Marketing Director Diana Arthur. “Their passport gets stamped and they get educated and immersed. It’s a celebratory way to become educated.”