By NICK GOSNELL
Hutch Post
HUTCHINSON, Kan. — Dr. Shirley Butler joined the Chalmers Cancer Center at Hutchinson Regional Medical Center (HRMC) as a Radiation Oncologist on September 1, following an extensive national search.
"Dr. Butler is a radiation oncologist," said Chuck Welch with Hutchinson Regional. "Typically, what happens when you're diagnosed with cancer, you will go for chemotherapy. People are pretty familiar with that, you sit in the chair and get infused with different types of medications that attack the cancer. When you've finished with your chemotherapy, or your drug infusions, many times, people still have a little residual tumor or a little bit of leftover cancer. Many times, they'll go see a radiation oncologist like Dr. Butler and they will apply specific types of radiation to the remaining cancer cells in your body."
Dr. Butler is a member of the American Society for Radiation Oncology, Asian Pacific American Medical Student Association, and the American Medical Association. She is a published writer and a frequent presenter within the medical community. Butler will join Dr. Sawsun Amireh, hematologist and oncologist, as in house specialists at Chalmers Cancer Center. Chalmers opened its doors in 1988 and has treated more than 15,000 cancer patients in its 33-year history.
"There's hundreds of people newly diagnosed with cancer every year, many right here in Reno County," Welch said. "We just felt like we needed more service, better service than we were getting from a traveling radiation oncologist. That's really why we went after Dr. Butler and we were just blessed to find her and have her come here."
Dr. Butler will have a special focus in providing care for women afflicted with cancer and will head up a patient-centered practice and fresh approach to Radiation Oncology.
It is a medical truism that people do better when they are home, surrounded by their family and friends," Welch said. "They just heal better. Their outcomes are better. That's what we aim to provide here."
Chalmers Cancer Center is a stand-alone facility located to the south of Hutchinson Regional Medical Center and is a short walk from the hospital’s Emergency Department.
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