Wood County cancer center gains commission accreditation

BOWLING GREEN -- Wood County Hospital has announced that its Maurer Family Cancer Care Center has earned accreditation from the Commission on Cancer, a program of the American College of Surgeons. To achieve the accreditation, the cancer center underwent a site visit to confirm the program's compliance with accreditation standards that evaluate the cancer-care services offered. "The Commission on Cancer accreditation marks another milestone in the growth and development of the Maurer Family Care Center in our effort to provide comprehensive, coordinated oncology care for the Wood County region," Wood County Hospital President Stan Korducki said. "I continue to be impressed with the dedication and commitment or our amazing caregiver team at Maurer in their drive to offer exceptional cancer care for our patients." As a Commission on Cancer-accredited center, the Maurer Family Center applies a multidisciplinary approach and treats cancer as a complex group of diseases that requires consultation among surgeons, medical and radiation oncologists, diagnostic radiologists, pathologists and other healthcare professionals who specialize in caring for cancer patients. Cancer patients at the center have access to clinical trials, screenings and prevention efforts, palliative care, genetic counseling, rehabilitation, oncology nutrition and survivorship services. The Maurer Family Cancer Center records cancer cases and shares information with the National Cancer Database, a collaboration between the Commission on Cancer and the American Cancer Society. The National Cancer Database is developed from records of Commission on Cancer-accredited facilities and helps to analyze and monitor patients with cancer, their treatments and results and comparing data with similar programs. The center also uses reporting tools for quality improvement, quality assurance and surveillance. "I am beyond proud of all the hard work and collaboration between the nurses, hospital staff, registrars, administrators and physicians who have contributed their time to help reach this goal," said Dr. Dhaval Parikh, medical director of the Maurer Family Cancer Care Center. "Not only does this achievement recognize the high quality of cancer care available to our community, but it will also allow us to directly benchmark our results with other exceptional cancer centers so we can continue to grow and improve our programs." For more information on the Commission on Cancer, visit website www.facs.org/cancer.