DETROIT – Henry Ford Health has an option for cancer patients struggling through treatments, and a recent $2 million gift is helping that resource reach more people.
It’s referred to as an OncoStat Clinic and designed as an urgent care program specifically tailored to cancer patients.
The clinic opened in 2016 and is inside the Henry Ford Health Detroit Cancer Pavillion.
A local family donated $2 million to the program in honor of their loved one, Lindsey Finsilver, who could have benefitted from the resource before her passing seven years ago.
“The most important thing to her, besides her children, obviously, was to help other cancer patients,” said Brett Finsilver.
In 2011, Brett’s late wife, Lindsey Finsilver, was diagnosed with appendiceal cancer. It was a five-and-a-half-year battle, and there were daily complications from nausea to constipation.
“I feel like any time we did encounter difficulty, it’d be on a Saturday, where you were forced to go to the emergency room, and the doctors couldn’t get you through that, and sitting in an emergency room for hours on hours was brutal,” Brett said.
That’s why Oncostat is so significant; it features a group of cancer specialists.
“The reality is, while we love the emergency room and the services they offer to our patients in general, they are not specialists,” said Dr. David Kwon, physician in charge at Brigitte Harris Cancer Pavilion. “Ultimately, we believe it improves the patient’s satisfaction, it also improves the patient’s outcomes, and most importantly, it really streamlines the way we can treat our patients when they are experiencing some bad symptoms.”
When Brett’s parents, Shari and Stanley Finsilver, learned of the OncoStat program, they wanted to do something to help.
“It grabbed my heart because of our daughter-in-law,” Shari said.
Stanley said, “We watched our daughter-in-law navigate through her cancer treatment, and we found that there were times where she needed immediate help and really couldn’t get it.”
Kwon said their gift will expand hours into weekends.
“While we have our flagship here in Detroit, this opportunity really allows us to expand our presence not only here in Detroit but also within our regional centers, we’ll go into northwest Oakland County,” Kwon said.
“It’s everything to be able to help cancer patients as much as you can because what they’re going through is really, as most people know, very, very, very, very tough, very traumatic, and we’re just so grateful to be able to do this,” Shari said.
Click here for more information on OncoStat Clinic.