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COURIER LIFE, JUNE 26-JULY 2, 2020 19
BK cancer center
provides quality
care amid pandemic
The Dr. John Kehoe Breast Center reopened in early May. Dr.
John Kehoe Breast Center
BY JESSICA PARKS
Cancer treatment at
many of the borough’s private
medical practices essentially
halted at the onset
of the pandemic as patients
weighed the risks of potential
exposure to the virus,
according to an area oncologist
whose southern
Brooklyn facility is looking
towards the future now
that the city is starting to
reopen.
“We couldn’t see anybody
for fi ve or six weeks,”
said Dr. John Kehoe. “I
think everyone in the medical
profession was really
concerned about the fact
that people weren’t able
to take care of themselves
— either doctor’s offi ces
weren’t open or patients
were reluctant to go.”
The Dr. John Kehoe
Breast Center — located
on Third Avenue and 97th
Street in Bay Ridge— specializes
in caring for breast
cancer patients from when
they are fi rst diagnosed.
The unprecedented
experience completely
changed the dynamic of
care Kehoe and his team
could provide to their patients,
the doctor said. His
offi ce instead, shifted its
focus towards keeping patients
calm and comfortable
until they could return
to the center.
“These patients were
living with their cancer,
knowing it was there,” Kehoe
said, “and the challenge
was just to nurture
them through it and tell
them that they were going
to be okay and we are going
to take care of it when we
could.”
Many patients worried
about traveling to the center
and possibly contracting
the virus, which the doctor
said could be more of a risk
than the breast cancer for
many of his patients.
“I had a patient who we
kept nurturing, calling her
up,” Kehoe said. “She said ‘I
am not going in, I am much
more frightened of getting
COVID than I am of dying
of cancer.’”
And there are New
Yorkers who still feel that
way. Though the Breast
Center has reopened, some
practices Kehoe works with
are continuing to operate
at minimal capacity or are
still closed — something,
the doctor said, exemplifi
es how interdependent the
medical fi eld is.
“One of the problems
we are running into right
now is that people are not
running at full capacity…
it takes longer to get people
radiology studies,” Kehoe
said.
The veteran medical
practitioner suspects the
pandemic will have a lasting
impact on the medical
fi eld, which will continue to
unfold. However, he hopes
it will leave caregivers like
himself and his team better
prepared for a potential second
wave of the novel coronavirus
this fall.
“None of us have a sense
of what it is going to look
like in three months,” Kehoe
said. “Telemedicine has
come in, we have found out
we could more on the phone
than before. The whole dynamic
is changing.”
For more information on
the Dr. Kehoe Breast Center,
or on Dr. John Kehoe, visit
www.johnkehoemd.com. To
contact the Bay Ridge facility,
dial 718-921-3800.
H2168_MKT20-19_M Accepted
* Premium, co-pays, coinsurance and deductibles may vary based on the
level of Extra Help you receive. Please contact plan for further details.
/www.johnkehoemd.com
/villagecaremax.org
/www.johnkehoemd.com