MITCHELL, S.D. (MITCHELLNOW) Avera leaders believe that all people within Avera’s 72,000-square-mile footprint deserve top quality cancer care and a wide range of care options, regardless of their ZIP code. Avera has broad expertise in rural care, and is a national leader in multiple areas including care delivery models, virtual care, emergency services, oncology and more.

This year, on National Rural Health Day, Avera highlights its commitment to cancer care with a unique approach in a mostly rural setting. The third Thursday in November has been set aside to highlight rural communities as wonderful places to live and work, and increase awareness of rural health-related issues.

“It is rare that a community cancer center like Avera Cancer Institute would offer options like Phase 1, first-in-human clinical trials, or extend participation in clinical trials to rural sites, but we do,” said David Starks, MD, MPH, Avera gynecologic oncologist and Clinical Research Director for Avera Cancer Institute.

What’s more, Avera’s care delivery model ensures that patients receive the same standard evidence-based care protocols at six Avera Cancer Institute regional centers as well as outreach sites, supported by integrated technology and telemedicine.

As a cancer research site, Avera Cancer Institute offers several Phase 1 trials, enrolling patients in these studies alongside nationally renowned cancer centers. Typically, Phase 1 trials are offered at large teaching institutions due to their complexity and need for expert staff.

Yet Avera has developed a deep bench of expertise for Phase 1, 2 and 3 trials. For example, Avera medical oncologist Heidi McKean, MD, enrolled the first U.S. patient and is the highest enroller in the world in a Phase 1 clinical trial, and she converses regularly about clinical trial progress and results with top cancer experts across the nation and world.

“Avera has proven to be competitive with larger academic cancer centers that have been doing this work for decades. Avera has also been nimble, often being able to open a study to participants in less time. This ultimately provides more options to our patients,” McKean said.

Avera’s oncology program has been in place since the 1980s. To support a growing program, Avera constructed a five-story, 260,000-square-foot, state-of-the-art home for its cancer program in Sioux Falls in 2010. Avera followed that major investment with similar yet right-sized cancer centers in regional facilities in Aberdeen, Mitchell and Pierre, SD, and Marshall, MN. In Yankton, SD, Avera is renovating the Avera Surgical Hospital, located on the Avera Fox Run Health Campus, as a new home for comprehensive oncology services in one location.

Avera began its blood and marrow transplant program over 25 years ago. Due to the depth of this program, Avera is able to offer cellular therapies including chimeric antigen receptor (CAR-T-cell), natural killer (NK) and tumor-infiltrating lymphocyte (TIL). The program is fully accredited by the Foundation for the Accreditation of Cellular Therapy (FACT).

“Avera as a health system is built for rural health care, and our cancer care is no exception,” said Rachael Sherard, Senior Vice President for Rural Health at Avera. “This means people can get the same high level of cancer care close to home, near the support of loved ones and in familiar surroundings. Our patients tell us this means a lot in their journey toward recovery, and that’s why we do it.”

Learn more at www.Avera.org/RuralHealth.