Cancer Game Changer: Advocate Medical Group in Park Ridge Receives Innovator Award for Cancer Advancements

Advocate Medical Group on the campus of Advocate Lutheran General Hospital has been named a 2017 Association of Community Cancer Centers (ACCC) Innovator Award recipient. The honor recognizes Cancer Program Members for their pioneering achievements in oncology.

Advocate Medical Group is receiving this award for improving access, quality, and value in cancer care delivery for immunotherapy. Its nursing team created an innovative program approach to provide reliable and ideal care for patients receiving immunotherapy treatment. The program is comprised of patient and staff education materials, peer-to-peer training, policy and procedure guidelines, toxicity assessment tools, and electronic health record (EHR) documentation templates to improve the care of immunotherapy patients.

This advanced cancer treatment approach helped saved one teacher's life and she couldn't be more thankful.

For Heather Quinn, tanning was just a part of her beauty routine growing up, but when this Indiana, first grade teacher found out she had stage 3b Metastatic Melanoma cancer at the age of 38 it didn't seem so beautiful.

"In high school and college I was always tanning and I never wore sunscreen," she says. "I felt like I had to have that golden glow or I wouldn't look as beautiful as I could. I wanted to be tan. Skin cancer wasn't even on my radar, I didn't think that would happen to me!"

Heather was referred to a melanoma oncology specialist in Michigan who told her all of her options, but she wasn't satisfied because they included side effects that would take her away from the things she loved doing. She needed to find a better option that would allow for her to keep living.

"Taking a traditional treatment route wouldn't let me to do the things I love like teaching my first graders and going to my nephews' hockey games and school events," she explains. "After much research on my sister's part we found Dr. Sigrun Hallmeyer at Advocate Lutheran General Hospital in Park Ridge, Ill. She was doing clinical trials for a relatively new treatment, immunotherapy."

Immunotherapy refers to a type of treatment that helps a cancer patient's own immune system fight cancer, according to the National Cancer Institute. Tumors block the immune system from being effective and immunotherapy unblocks it, so the immune system can operate properly. Research has shown that this treatment option has better treatment responses, survival rates, and fewer side effects for patients. As the power and prominence of immunotherapy continues to grow it is being recognized as the fourth pillar of oncology treatment.

"Having melanoma and working with Dr. Hallmeyer taught me how important my choice was to be part of a clinical trial for a new treatment," she says. "If it wasn't for her practice's work in immunotherapy innovations I might not have the same positive outcomes I did. They saved my life."

Heather just completed her immunotherapy in June and has been declared NED or no evidence of disease.