36 LONGISLANDPRESS.COM • AUGUST 2021
MSK KIDS SHIFTS MORE CANCER SERVICES TO ITS LI CENTERS
Rhabdomyosarcoma is a rare type of
cancer that develops in muscle tissue
and most commonly affects children
and adolescents.
Brooke, who was diagnosed in April
2020, had surgery at Memorial Sloan
Kettering Cancer Center (MSK) to remove
the surrounding tissue. Although
her cancer was Stage 1, Dubay had to
undergo radiation and chemotherapy
treatments. The first couple of treatments
were done at MSK’s main campus
in Manhattan.
“For one type of treatment she had to
spend the whole day there, and we didn’t
get home till about 8 p.m. and we had
to go back at 7 a.m. the next day,” Kim
Dubay said. “Brooke sometimes felt sick
on the long drive and we would have to
pull over.”
Many of the treatments were shorter in
duration, but trekking into Manhattan
meant that Brooke would have to miss
full days of school, as would Kim, who
is a teacher. Further, it would take Kim
away from her three other children. At
Kim’s request, approval was given for
Brooke to have most of her treatments,
scans, and visits at MSK’s Commack
facility.
“It has been so much less disruptive to
not have to go to Manhattan,” Kim Dubay
said, adding that she can sometimes
schedule a 4:30 p.m. appointment and
she and Brooke can go after school.
In recent years, MSK has developed regional
centers in the New York suburbs,
including locations in Commack and
Uniondale, and begun shifting many
services, including radiology, chemotherapy
and lab tests, to these suburban
centers. The pandemic accelerated this
trend, according to Dr. Andrew Kung,
a pediatric oncologist and chair of
MSK’s Department of Pediatrics (MSK
Kids), which treats all common and
rare forms of cancer affecting children
and adolescents. Many patients were
nervous about going to Manhattan in
the early months of the Covid-19 crisis.
This contributed to the shift toward the
regional centers as well as the introduction
of telemedicine for certain types of
visits, such as psychosocial care.
“Since the pandemic, about 30 percent
of all MSK Kids care is either at our
regional sites or via telemedicine,” Dr.
Kung said.
Causing minimal disruption to the lives
of children and their families is one of
the goals of MSK Kids.
“About 80 percent of children’s cancers
are curable, which is a real testament
to the advances that have been made
over the last 40 to 50 years,” Dr. Kung
said. “With that success, we have to
pay equal attention to making sure
the therapies are not only effective in
treating disease, but that we cause as
little toxicity as possible, both in terms
of the medicine itself and the disruption
to kids’ lives.”
Not all services can be done on Long
Island.
“What we do for each patient is make
sure that for each therapeutic modality
they need, they are treated at the most
appropriate site,” Dr. Kung said. “Our
capabilities span from very routine
to very high-tech therapies, and some
therapies are not appropriate for an
outpatient setting and should be treated
in our main facility in Manhattan.”
But where possible, MSK Kids is continuing
to expand the services it provides
close to home.
“Bringing services to the child’s community
allows kids and their families
to try to get back to a more normal life,”
Dr. Kung said. “Instead of hauling into
Manhattan and losing whole days, kids
can stay engaged in school and sports.”
Brooke Dubay attended online classes
for most of the school year and began
in-person classes in April. Sports were
disrupted because of the pandemic, but
the teenager, whose recent three-month
follow-up scans were clear, is looking
forward to returning to a full sports
schedule in the fall.
PRESS HEALTH
“Instead of hauling into Manhattan and losing
whole days, kids can stay engaged in school and
sports,” says Dr. Andrew Kung.
continued from page 35
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