PENN STATE HERSHEY AND ST. JOSEPH EXPAND CARE FOR CHILDREN AND CANCER PATIENTS IN BERKS COUNTY

Pediatric specialties services now open; radiation oncology service opens July 19

Reading, PA  -  Berks county children and families now have increased access to pediatric specialty care and enhanced cancer services through the growing partnership between St. Joseph Regional Health Network and Penn State Hershey Medical Center and Health System.

On Monday, July 5, Penn State Hershey opened the new Penn State Hershey Medical Group at St. Joseph Medical Center, located on the St. Joseph medical campus in Bern Township. By the fall, approximately two dozen Penn State Hershey Children‟s Hospital physicians in15 pediatric specialties and sub-specialties will see patients at the St. Joseph site Monday through Friday on a rotating basis.

In two weeks, Leonard „Lee‟ Tuanquin, M.D., radiation oncologist, begins seeing adult patients at St. Joseph‟s Cancer Center also on the Bern Township campus. Tuanquin will practice full time in Reading under the auspices of the ongoing affiliation between St. Joseph Regional Health Network and Penn State Hershey Cancer Institute. Tuanquin will be an active member of the Penn State Hershey Cancer Institute clinical faculty and the St. Joseph Medical Staff.

“The St. Joseph Regional Health Network board, medical staff and employees are excited about our ongoing partnership with Penn State Hershey Medical Center and the addition of needed physician specialists in pediatrics and radiation oncology that our partnership is able to produce,” says President and CEO John Morahan. “Having Penn State Hershey's highly qualified and experienced specialists on our Bern Township campus means that the medical staff and the wider Berks medical community will have the opportunity to expedite patient consults and make referrals for care more convenient.”

The expanded pediatric and cancer services are the latest development stemming from a formal affiliation the two healthcare providers announced last year. Penn State Hershey and St. Joseph are already collaborating on care of stroke patients through real-time consultation with Penn State Hershey stroke specialists on complicated diagnoses and treatment plans, as well as a streamlined referral process when tertiary or quaternary stroke care is required.

“As we continue to develop our active partnership with St. Joseph Regional Health Network, „collaboration‟ is the operative word,” says Harold L. Paz, M.D., M.S., CEO of Penn State Hershey Medical Center and Health System; Penn State‟s senior vice president for health affairs, and dean of Penn State College of Medicine. “Patients and families in central Pennsylvania deserve to have high-quality specialty care available to them as close to home as possible. The best way to provide that care locally is through active partnership with the physicians and healthcare providers who are most familiar with their patients and the local community. That‟s the foundation of our affiliation with St. Joseph.”

Penn State Hershey Children‟s Hospital has a long history of outreach in Berks County. The hospital‟s Children‟s Heart Group has been travelling to the Reading area and working collaboratively with Berks county physicians to serve pediatric heart patients and their families for nearly fifteen years.

Pediatric specialty services offered at the new Penn State Hershey Medical Group site in the St. Joseph Medical Office Building will expand pediatric cardiology offerings and include pediatric neurology, neurosurgery, gastroenterology, pulmonary medicine, orthopedics, infectious disease services and hematology/oncology, endocrinology, rheumatology, and a pediatric feeding program.

“The quick access to care from Penn State Hershey doctors will ease the burdens for patients and families by reducing the amount of time and money spent getting to and from medical appointments and treatments,” Morahan says. “Previously, simple access to many of these services would require travel to Hershey or Philadelphia.”

Penn State Hershey Cancer Institute‟s Tuanquin earned his bachelor‟s degree in biology and anthropology from George Washington University where he graduated Magna Cum Laude. He received his medical degree from West Virginia University School of Medicine and completed his residency at University of Kentucky Chandler Medical Center, serving as chief resident during his final year of residency.

He is a member of the American Society of Radiation Oncology and the American Brachytherarpy Society. He will treat radiation therapy patients at St. Joseph Monday through Friday.

In addition to Tuanquin‟s recruitment, doctors at St. Joseph Medical Center will have the ability to video-conference into multidisciplinary conferences with Penn State Hershey Cancer Institute specialists in Hershey, participating with a broad cross-section of specialists in developing comprehensive diagnoses and targeted treatment plans for their patients.

“The opening of these medical services reflects the positive outcomes of our partnership with St. Joseph Regional Health Network,” Paz says. “Our two health organizations remain committed to developing other collaborations which will enhance and improve health care in the Berks community.”