Care close to home

MAMOU -- Dr. Tanyanika Phillips, MD, MPH, and Dr. Lawrence P. Menache, MD, are working to provide cancer treatment close to home at Savoy Cancer Center in Mamou.
Menache said, “Our patients are very grateful that we are here. They don’t even want to travel to Crowley or Opelousas. They want to be right here at home and sleep in their own beds. They don’t want to travel for an hour or two to go get treatment. They want to be able to come to their home base.
“They are very loyal and very grateful. You can feel it.”
Phillips added, “They really appreciate it, and the services that we provide.”
Menache is the center’s radiology oncologist and he has worked for CHRISTUS Health for 27 years. CHRISTUS St. Frances Cabrini Hospital and Savoy Cancer Center are partnered through CHRISTUS Health.
Menache, a native of New York, is board certified through the American Board of Radiology. He did his radiation oncology residency at the University of Texas Medical Branch in Galveston, Texas. Menache is a member of the American College of Radiation Oncology and the American Cancer Society. He is the medical director of the Department of Radiation Oncology at CHRISTUS Cabrini Cancer Center in Alexandria.
Phillips, a native of New Orleans, is the center’s medical oncologist. She is board certified for medical oncology by the American Board of Internal Medicine. She completed a medical oncology fellowship at Johns Hopkins Sidney Kimmel Cancer Center. Phillips completed her residency in internal medicine at Oschner Medical Center. She attended college at Xavier University of New Orleans and medical school at the University of Rochester School of Medicine. She is the medical director of Oncology Rural and Community Health for CHRISTUS Health Central Louisiana.
Phillips previously worked for Ascension Health at St. John Medical Center in Tulsa, Oklahoma, and she has been with Christus Health for a year.
Menache said, “Christus asked us to come down here and take care of cancer patients.”
He continued, “I thoroughly enjoy coming here. I love the patients, and I love the staff. It’s a wonderful environment and a great environment to work in. The staff here is really supportive and care for the patients. I am very happy to be here.”
Phillips agreed with Menache’s opinion of the facility.
“That is absolutely right,” she said. “I have not met people more special than in this area.”
Menache added, “They are sweet people.”
While Menache treats patients with x-ray beams, Phillips uses chemotherapy, hormonal therapy, biologic type therapies and immunotherapies to treat cancer in patients.
“In conjunction with our surgeons that we have here in our community, this allows us to give proper oncology care in the area,” Menache said.
“You’ve got large cancer centers, and basically this center is appropriate for the community, that region that we serve,” Phillips said.
She continued, “Patients will have access to latest therapies. They will have access to things a larger center has. I tell patients that we provide, according to the National Comprehensive Cancer Guidelines.”
Phillips said in the event a patient has a rare form of cancer, the center will reach out to a center that specializes in the type of care the patient needs and refer the patient to that facility.
Phillips said that Savoy Cancer Center is a one-stop shop when it comes to receiving cancer treatment in the region.
“The nice thing about Savoy is that this is not an office,” she said. “You don’t have to go to a different location to get your treatment. Here, you will be seen by a doctor and your care plan will be developed and delivered all in one facility. I think many people truly appreciate that.”
Phillips has her masters degree in public health, and she has an interest in community population health.
“Among my partners at Carbini, one of my leaderships roles is the director of rural population health for Christus,” she said. “In that regard, it is important for me to be visible and take an active role in one of our partnerships. It’s been great.”
She continued, “Savoy and Christus are actually a model for what oncology care is representing nationally. Gone are the days of going to a destination center and then going home. That has been the focus in last two years, nationally, to make sure that patients have access to care near their home.”
Phillips said MD Anderson has made local services a huge delivery statement for care in recent years.
“They have really focused on trying to help facilities provide that care,” she said. “They work with facilities like us to ensure patients get the care they need at home. This has been a national initiative. I really believe Savoy and Christus Health are on the cutting edge of what population health is today for cancer care.”
Phillips said the partnership between the center and CHRISTUS Health evolved from a need to bring treatment closer to home.
“If a community doesn’t have services for people to get treatment, patients show up in emergency rooms when it’s too late,” she said. “If you’ve got care closer to home, you’ve got more people who are willing to be treated and will be treated. That is huge to me. I am proud to be a part of a system like Christus.”
Menache said, “The advantage of a smaller facility is that you get to know your doctors, the team, the surgeon, the oncologist. Everyone who touches the patient knows them, from the front desk to back.”
Menache said the center sees the standard cancers — breast, lung, colon, prostate and lymphoma.
Phillips said, “We are pretty much seeing what the National Registry sees as far as cancers.”
Menache is at the center twice a week, and on the other three days of the week a general radiologist fills his shoes. Phillips is at the center three to four days a week, and on the other day or days, a nurse practitioner is on staff. The pair of doctors sees patients from Eunice, Oakdale, Ville Platte, Chataingnier, Elton, Basile, Pine Prairie and Turkey Creek.
Phillips said most patients prefer to have their treatment early in the week, and Manache said the number of patients treated each week goes up and down.
“Sometimes we are very busy, and sometimes we are not,” he said. “Thats oncology everywhere.”
Both doctors said they would like to see the cancer center grow and treat more patients closer to home.
“That (closer treatment options) is extremely important,” Menache said. “Cancer patients need to sleep in their own beds. They need to be surrounded by family members. Home is where you really get the best support.”
Phillips said she became an oncologist after her own mother and aunt were diagnosed when she was just a child.
“There is quite a lot of cancer in my family,” she said. “My mom is a breast cancer survivor, and her sister is a breast cancer survivor. They were diagnosed a month apart. Growing up, I spent a lot of time in the hospitals and doctor’s offices. I really felt strongly about being not only a physician, but I felt passionate and compassionate about it.”
Phillips said her father had prostate cancer, and several more of her family members also had cancer.
“I was a resource to them and inspired by their stories,” she said. “It really helps me to be a better doctor to have a personal perspective, not just being a doctor, but being a sister, a mom, a cousin, a niece, or a daughter in a caregiver role. I really understand the needs of patients.”
Menache said he comes from a long line of healthcare providers and psychians.
“I came at it (being a doctor) naturally,” he said. “I saw it in the home, and it was something that I always found very gratifying. I found that to be true when I became a physician, particularly with oncology because today we can pretty much cure about a third of the patients where as many years ago, we couldn’t cure that many. We can also put patients into remission. It’s really a wonderful feeling.”
Menache said he is often asked how he can treat patients with cancer.
“The answer is because they get better whereas working with a heart patient or (someone with) bad respiratory disease, they never get better,” he said. “We can actually cure cancer. We can’t cure diabetes. “(Working to treat cancer) It’s actually more gratifying than some of those other diseases. There are some sad outcomes, but we have done a lot of good.”
Phillips said, “Patients with advanced diseases or cancer that has spread, years ago, unfortunately patients didn’t do well. Now people with the disease are living longer with quality. That to me has been a tremendous evolution in the field of oncology.
“I have seen patients diagnosed with cancer that had spread from the brain to multiple organs that are still alive five years later — that was once unheard of — and still good quality (of life). That has been a significant evolution for many reasons including more comprehensive services, access to services and with newer therapies.”