By Carl Kotala
Lee L. Bockelman believes people should know about the great work being done at Space Coast Cancer Center.
“We need to get the word out,” said the 80-year-old Palm Bay resident.
Diagnosed with prostate cancer in March, Lee was sent to the Moffitt Cancer Center in Tampa for a second opinion. It was there he was referred to Space Coast Cancer Center, which is the only healthcare organization in Brevard County that is part of the Moffitt Oncology Network.
With his radiation treatments completed, Lee was awaiting his latest PSA test and was expecting good results.
He was very happy with the treatment he received from the staff at SCCC, including Dr. Brendan Prendergast, who specializes in radiation oncology.
Dr. Ashish Dalal and staff work together to ensure patients receive the utmost care as soon as possible.
“They were very supportive and very helpful and gave me good advice,” Lee said. “The technicians were all excellent. Dr. Prendergast was excellent.”
“The quality of our care is really second to none,” Dr. Prendergast said. “The equipment we have, the facilities we have are really world class. The people, the staff, the physicians are an excellent group of folks to work with.”
Radiation treatments are done at the Viera and Titusville facilities with state-of-the-art linear accelerators known as the TrueBeam and the Trilogy that can greatly enhance a patient’s treatment.
“It allows us to do things like radio-surgery, which is using very focal radiation to treat tumors that are inoperable in the brain, or anywhere else in the body,” Dr. Prendergast said. “It allows us to deliver radiation very quickly, and with millimeter precision.
“This is the same type of radiation machine that’s found at large academic hospitals across the country like Moffitt Cancer Center.”
There is no greater honor for a cancer facility in Florida than to be associated with the Moffitt Cancer Center. SCCC is the only one in Brevard County that can make that claim.
“It’s not just an affiliation,” Dr. Ashish Dalal said. “It’s actually active care for patients. If there is a patient that needs to be seen by Moffitt, if they have a very complicated case, as part of the Moffitt Oncology Network, Moffitt will see the patient in a few days versus a few weeks.”
SCCC doctors are able to video conference with doctors from Moffitt to discuss cases, and SCCC also has access to Moffitt’s clinical trials that other cancer centers won’t have.
In addition, Dr. Dalal said staff members work well together to make sure the patient receives the utmost care as soon as possible. He described, for instance, a case where a new patient had a mass in their lung that needed radiation treatment.
“The patient is not on the radiation doctor’s schedule, but when I talk to the radiation doctor they will be flexible enough to make time and put the patient on their schedule. The patient gets to be seen right away and doesn’t have to come back,” Dr. Dalal said. “We do these types of things for our patients.”
That’s not all they do. Dr. Dalal said all of the doctors at SCCC answer their own phone calls, day or night, in case their patients have a question.
With that kind of service, state-of-the-art equipment, highly-trained and certified physicians and four facilities spread throughout Brevard County, there is no better option for cancer patients in this area than Space Coast Cancer Center.
“We have set a very high bar for oncology care in Brevard County,” Dr. Dalal said.
To learn more about Space Coast Cancer Center visit SpaceCoastCancerCenter.com or call (855) 894-HOPE.
