It is hard to imagine that this August will mark the twelfth year anniversary of The Oregon Clinic GI-South’s decision to expand our gastroenterology practice with a clinic presence and 24 hours per day and 7 days per week hospital and emergency coverage at Providence Newberg hospital. We started in a small, one-physician space with one doctor seeing patients for a few half-days per week.
We have seen our Newberg practice grow to five medical providers from our group helping to care for patients in this community (Erik VanKleek MD, Jeff Duman MD, Swapna Reddy MD, Ken Reckard PA and myself) and call coverage by our entire group of 16 board certified gastroenterologists. It has been such a privilege for me and our group to develop so many meaningful relationships with individuals from this area, the medical community and hospital. We have enjoyed serving on hospital committees, collaborating in the care of hospitalized patients and outpatients, and strategizing how to continue to improve care delivery in this area. This has included the addition of advanced endoscopic biliary procedures (ERCP) and the most recent addition of endoscopic ultrasound advanced diagnostic technology (Upper and lower EUS) which are both available at Newberg Hospital.
We are proud to announce another step forward in our commitment to this community. My partners and I from the Oregon Clinic – Gastroenterology South are excited to see the opening of a new medical office and endoscopy center in Newberg located just south of Providence Newberg Hospital, on Providence Drive.
Our new space will allow us to see more patients, cut down on long wait times and provide a broader range of services to Newberg and the surrounding communities. Our new building will include a three-room endoscopy center, which will provide a more affordable option for endoscopic services to our patients. We are also excited to see two new physicians join our group starting in September of 2018. When open this fall, we will be starting with eight providers in addition to dietitian services. This will be a near doubling of provider resources and will put us in a good position to continue to expand those resources as demand dictates.
We also hope to partner with our PCP colleagues to improve the colon cancer screening rate of patients within Yamhill county and surrounding communities. Colorectal cancer is still the third leading cause of cancer related deaths which is considered to be a largely preventable disease through appropriate, disease specific screening. “80% by 2018” is a National Colorectal Cancer Roundtable (NCCRT) initiative in which more than 1,500 organizations, including medical schools, cancer coalitions, payers and others, have committed to the shared goal of 80% of the adults aged 50 and older being regularly screened for colorectal cancer by 2018.
That’s this year!
Yamhill county’s current percentage of eligible individuals who are up-to-date with any of the accepted modalities for colorectal cancer screening is only 56%, according to data from the Oregon Health Authority. Multnomah, Washington and Clackamas Counties are 67%, 72% and 73%, respectively. We have a great opportunity to improve. The OHA resource, thecanceryoucanprevent.org, has a tremendous amount of resources for more information. We would like to work with you, area businesses and others to increase the colorectal cancer screening rate in our community in years to come.