UNC Health Lenoir Cancer Center Receives Commission on Cancer Accreditation

June is National Cancer Survivor Month. According to the CDC, over eighteen million cancer survivors live in the United States. This includes over 165,000 men, women and children living in North Carolina. A cancer survivor is someone diagnosed with any type of cancer who is still living. Cancer survivorship begins at the time cancer is discovered. It continues for the rest of the cancer survivor’s life. It includes others such as family members, loved ones, friends, and caregivers who are touched by cancer. UNC Health Lenoir is working to ensure that our community has more survivors of cancer and fewer cancer deaths.

The Commission on Cancer (CoC), a quality program of the American College of Surgeons (ACS) has granted three-year accreditation to the cancer program at UNC Health Lenoir after an onsite survey that was conducted April 19, 2023. To earn voluntary CoC accreditation, a cancer program must meet 34 CoC quality care standards, be evaluated every three years through a survey process, and maintain levels of excellence in the delivery of comprehensive patient-centered care. An excerpt from the report states “UNC Health Lenoir is a very good model for a Community Cancer Program for the Commission on Cancer. Rural hospitals have unique challenges of resources management both human and financial. UNC Health Lenoir has a very dedicated team of both physicians and non-physicians who value the principles of the CoC accreditation and that was very clear at the time of this site visit as well as the program's documentation in the cancer committee minutes. They have had challenges since the last site-visit of not only the COVID pandemic but a significant integration into the UNC system and EMR (medical record) transitions. Despite these challenges, the program continues to persist to meet standard compliance without using any of these challenges as an excuse. The physicians take pride in providing quality care for patients at their facility. The program has the University of North Carolina affiliation but most of the work for accreditation occurs locally with the program's dedicated staff.”

“UNC Health Lenoir Cancer Center is dedicated to providing excellent care and we recognize the importance of treating the whole person, not just the condition. When fighting cancer, every decision impacts patients' lives and every aspect of cancer care should be considered," said Kimberly Best, RN, Director of Cancer Care Services at UNC Health Lenoir. " We are proud of the personalized care plans we provide for patients through our patient navigation program, which has helped us establish relationships with local oncologists, radiologists, and other physicians in the community to manage our patients' care together. We want our community members to know that we are your partners in your care and we are here when you need us and that nobody fights this disease alone.”