Heredity, learned behaviors and lifestyle play a tremendous role in cancer risk and reduction. Lancaster General works to educate, empower and prevent. Free screenings for prostate, skin, breast and cervical cancer are offered throughout the county.

 

We start children off right, too, through LifeSkills, an anti-tobacco program taught in class-rooms throughout Lancaster County. Based on a Centers-for-Disease-Control model, LifeSkills is the top reduction/prevention program in the country.

 

We implemented it locally by partnering with the Tobacco-Free Coalition of Lancaster County. After four years, lifetime tobacco use is down 7.8 percent. Best of all, LifeSkills is 100 percent funded by the Tobacco Master Settlement Agreement.

 

 

 

Breast, lung, colorectal, prostate and bladder are the top five cancers treated at Lancaster General. To each, we bring a powerful weapon: a Commission on Cancer-approved oncology program. Such programs offer comprehensive care, state-of-the art services and equipment, a multi-specialty treatment approach, clinical trials, and vital support services.

 

These life-saving services recently found a new home. Lancaster General Hospital’s enhanced inpatient cancer unit, unveiled in October 2006, offers large private rooms with ample space for families. Patient satisfaction scores have increased dramatically, and we expect a more visible and active program with the arrival of a new oncology program director. The goal is to broaden and deepen the services and clinical expertise of cancer care in our community so that we can carry out Lancaster General’s Vision: To create an extraordinary healthcare experience… every time. Clinical trials for patients and continuing education for our oncology staff – both offered through collaboration with the University of Pennsylvania Cancer Network – help complete that equation.

 

 

Lancaster General offers one of the most advanced treatments for tumors, lesions and other brain disorders – Gamma Knife®. Since 1999, we’ve treated more than 1,200 people at the Health Campus with near perfect satisfaction rates – without overnight hospital stays. To read one patient’s success story with Gamma Knife® treatment, read the article online from the Fall 2006 issue of Generally Speaking.

 

 

 

Cancer is a devastating disease that steals life and leaves something hollow in its place. When someone becomes cancer free, we share in their joy. For patients and families still on the journey, we offer: