24 LONGISLANDPRESS.COM • OCTOBER 2021
DR. DIANE REIDY-LAGUNES, OF MEMORIAL SLOAN KETTERING REGIONAL CARE NETWORK
CANCER CARE ON LI
BY CLAUDE SOLNIK
As the medical oncologist and associate
deputy physician-in-chief of the Memorial
Sloan Kettering Regional Care
Network, Dr. Diane Reidy-Lagunes
plays a key role in cancer care on
Long Island. We talked with her about
cancer, cures, Covid, the pandemic,
and efforts to serve Long Islanders
closer to home.
Are you from Long Island?
I am from Long Island. I was born and
raised in Nesconset. I’m proud to work
at MSK and have the opportunity to
be back on Long Island and oversee
the regional care network.
What is the regional care network
and what is it on Long Island?
Many years ago, MSK decided we
needed to bring our care closer to
where our patients live and work.
We developed regional care network
sites. There are three on Long
Island — Hauppauge, Uniondale, and
Commack — three in New Jersey, and
one in Westchester. The hope and expectation
is we can provide care to
our patients closer to home, to make
it more convenient and eliminate the
financial toxicity of having to take
off a lot of time from work, providing
childcare, and driving to the city. Over
the years, we’ve developed new sites
and tried to attend to patients’ needs
by being where they are. We go to
them, as opposed to assuming they
will go to us.
What can you do at regional sites
and when do patients need to go to
Manhattan?
At our regional sites, patients can get
chemotherapy and radiation therapy
as well as blood labs and things they
need. There are pharmacies. The
only thing not available is surgery.
The surgeons are there, but for the
operative care itself, that’s pretty
much still in Manhattan. In Commack,
we have an interventional radiology
suite. That means certain procedures
that interventional radiologists do can
be done on Long Island.
How big is your Long Island regional
presence and is it changing?
Now we have 20% of our patient population,
all the patients we care for, on
Long Island. It’s a big number. But any
patient can get their chemotherapy
and radiation anywhere.
How has cancer care changed since
the pandemic?
The world changed since the pandemic.
Nowhere are we more aware of that
than at a cancer center. Our patients
tend to be older and have cancer.
They’re the highest-risk population
for getting severe symptoms from
Covid if, God forbid, they are exposed.
We have gone above and beyond to
get proper protocols in place, to make
it the safest place to go and be. The
protocols of keeping our patients safe
are so tight. We’ve learned what keeps
our patients and employees safe.
Can you describe some protocols?
It’s universal masking for everyone.
If anyone even has a sniffle, they’re
immediately tested. We have labs on
site, so we can get responses quickly.
Anyone who goes into an operating
room is tested beforehand. All our employees
are required to be vaccinated.
How are you using telemedicine?
That’s critically helpful for our patients,
particularly on Long Island,
who live a distance from the city. We
can care for many patients through
telehealth in the comfort of their
own home. There are still safety
issues in terms of visitor policies.
Having telehealth allows us to
invite any family members
who want to attend a
meeting. They can
come on the video,
even if they’re at
work.
Did people delay
care due to
the pandemic
a n d are
you seeing
a surge in
demand for
care?
I think early on, there were delays,
in March of last year and most of the
spring. Thankfully, we think that
delay is no longer the case. We want
to encourage patients to go back to
screening and getting cancer care.
What new tech/treatments are there
or on the horizon?
Tremendous strides have been made,
such as immunotherapy, medications
that turn on your immune system
to attack the cancer. It’s a drug
given intravenously that turns on
your immune system, particularly
your T-cells, white cells fighting off
the cancer. We have targeted treatments
that allow us to treat patients
based on the genetic dispositions of
the cancer. Based on mutations in
the cancer, we have new therapies
targeting that.
What can people do to reduce
their risk of
getting cancer?
First and
foremost,
m a k e
s u r e
y o u
do the
screening tests that save lives and
prevent cancer. Colonoscopy for patients
45 and older. Mammograms and
early detection are important. Going
to see the dermatologist, making sure
there’s no evidence of skin cancer or
melanoma. And maintain a healthy
lifestyle. Smoking is addictive, but
going through smoking cessation
programs is important. And eating.
We know a lot of cancers today are
associated with obesity.
Is MSK expanding, adding services
or otherwise growing on Long
Island?
Uniondale is a brand-new facility.
We expanded our Commack facility
in 2019 to be larger and we have the
potential to expand Uniondale to
be larger. I don’t think we plan on
having another building. We’re
continuing to see an increased
number of patients. We’re bringing
on doctors who have unique
specialties to allow patients
to get specialized care
locally.
How crucial is it to fund
and fi ght cancer – even
as Covid-19 becomes
such a key concern?
The pandemic has
brought so much
tragedy, but cancer
continues to do the
same. We have to
keep to our mission,
making sure we
keep our eyes on
the ball and keep
going with
research that
we desperately
need
to do.
CORNER OFFICE
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