Transcript

On the Cancer Simplified Podcast, we cover a very wide range of topics related to cancer, but the common denominator is that our discussions are in simplified terms. Like a talk around the kitchen table.

If you’ve been a loyal listener, you know that our first podcast was entitled “ What is Cancer?” A little science talk in there.

The second podcast was about another kind of technical topic, namely our “genes” - the basic units of heredity that each of us have in our bodies and how if some of those genes become 

“mutated,” a cancer can develop and grow.

Our third episode looked at a more people-to-people topic - namely, how many cancer patients, who come to our Clinic for therapy, ask for guidance on how to pray. 

And in yet another episode, we discussed how some patients are embarrassed with their cancer diagnosis and are uncomfortable sharing their situation with others.

So you can see, I hope, that the common denominator for all of these topics is that, with content that is simplified and accessible to all, they should be of almost universal interest to East End cancer patients and their caregivers. 

Today, we are focusing on a new topic that, once again, should be of broad-based interest. 

A question that almost every newly diagnoses cancer patient asks: “Where do I go to get cancer treatment? Someplace on the East End? Or do I have to go all the way to New York City - to a place like Memorial Sloan Kettering?

The answer is this: There are a lot more options today than there were, say, 20-25 years ago. If you go back to the mid 1990’s - the five towns that make up the East End had NO CANCER CENTER - meaning there was no dedicated cancer facility with oncologists in residence, where cancer patients could receive complete diagnosis and treatment including chemotherapy and radiation.

25 years ago, the only place meeting those criteria. and within a reasonable driving distance, was the Stony Brook Cancer Center in the village of Stony Brook, NY. But it was an hour’s drive from Southampton. 

But Stony Brook was gigantic and intimidating to many of our patients. For example, during 2024, Stony Brook saw 20,000 inpatient cancer cases with 70,000 outpatient visits.

Since there was no cancer center on the East End, it would not surprise you to know that there were virtually no oncologists either. Actually there were two: Dr. Schwartz, who treated my mother and was nearing retirement and Louis Avvento who was becoming more prominent by the year. My mother, Charlotte, was diagnosed with advanced lung cancer in the Spring of 2001 and became a patient of Dr. Schwartz. 

Surgeries at Southampton Hospital were routinely performed by whichever surgeon seemed to know the most. But with very complex cases, the doctors at Southampton Hospital would steer a patient to Stony Brook Cancer Center. And if a patient needed radiation, as my mother did, the closest spot was the office of a radiation oncologist in Riverhead.

In 2019, cancer treatment on the East End went from “sleepy village” to the “Big Leagues.” At that time a wealthy family in Southampton gave the local hospital $20 million, stipulating that the gift was to be used for ONLY ONE PURPOSE - to build a first class cancer center,albeit one that would be viewed as a “boutique” compared to but smaller than the one at Stony Brook.

The Chairman of the Hospital’s Board was an Episcopal Church rector; The Reverend Peter M. Larsen, and the Hospital’s Chairman was Bob Chaloner. Both of these men became friends of mine and of Fighting Chance. One day in early 2017 they ended up in the Sag Harbor office of Fighting Chance, meeting with me. Peter and Bob said the subject was “top secret.” Partly because the Hospital was about to buy a large tract of land and didn’t want to see the price raised as a result of rumors spreading.Then Bob Chaloner broke the news: “Duncan, we want Fighting Chance to open up a satellite office in the new cancer center and provide its cancer patients with therapeutic counseling the same way you do from the Sag Harbor Clinic.” That proposal for our counseling center to be part of the new Phillips Family Cancer Center Phillips or PFCC for short) would be a transformational move for Fighting Chance.

We would be taken more seriously if we had an office at Phillips and our staff would have day-to-day contact with a surrounding group of oncologists and nurses. Finally, our staff would emerge far more knowledgeable as a result of working side-by-side dedicated clinicians. For Fighting Chance, it was an opportunity of a lifetime . . . and so we accepted Bob Chaloner’s generous offer.

During the winter of 2018-2019 I found myself, at least once a week, in a portable trailer that served as HQ for the construction company building the new cancer center . . . and it was quite a construction site. Over 13,000 sq ft of office space and support facilities including a state-of-the-art radiation vault. 

We had to hire an additional oncology social worker to work at our Phillips office and we were fortunate to recruit one from the Stony Brook Cancer Center.

Before long, it was time for “Ribbon Cutting Day” with an audience of hundreds and all the local VIPs. In Bob Chaloner’s remarks I was especially touched when he said that Fighting Chance was a big part of the reason he kept thinking about the scourge of cancer and that our organization fueled his determination to have a Cancer Center on the East End.

At the Ribbon Cutting, Bob’s dream was realized and in a way, so was mine. My hope was that mental health counseling would be integrated into the medical treatment that cancer patients receive. And there we were - our own office, right in the middle of things.

From 2019 to 2026, the cancer care landscape on the East End continued to change. In addition to the new Cancer Center in Southampton - an affiliate of Stony Brook Medicine - there is another new cancer facility - an independent, free-standing cancer center - just one mile down the road from Phillips - New York Cancer & Blood Specialists (NYCBS). NYCBS, unlike most Cancer Centers, it is not affiliated with a University. It has a distinctive business model in that it is run on a for-profit basis. That distinction, however, is not visible to patients because, for example NYCBS accepts payment via Medicaid - the government-sponsored health insurance that supports those at or near the poverty level.

NYCBS is also unique because it has some 40 branches in and around Long Island. Their slogan is that patients can “Conquer cancer close to home.” 

Perhaps the latest entry in the cancer center expansion on the East End is the Northwell Health Cancer Institute at Riverhead. The facility has roughly 13,000 square feet of hospital space about the size of the Cancer Center at Stony Brook Main Campus in Stony Brook.

Finally, two other health organizations with a major presence in New York City have also set up outposts in the Hamptons. They are NYU - Langone and Weill-Cornell - New York Presbyterian. But services at these 2 outposts is limited; they function as gateways to the roster of specialists in the city.