The single most important decision you'll make as a prostate cancer patient is where to have your treatment administered. Many men have longstanding relationships with their primary care physicians and feel the need to follow their suggestions when it comes to deciding when and where treatment takes place. This is only natural, and at Roswell Park Cancer Institute, we respect the decisions that patients make even after we've given our professional opinion.
As a comprehensive cancer treatment and research institute, our goal is to ensure that the patient experience we provide is second to none. That's why we encourage patients to take an active role in making decisions about the quality of care they receive, as well as the quality of life they deserve.
Throughout our long history, Roswell Park has built a reputation for putting the patient's needs first on every level. Everything we do is grounded in providing positive and promising outcomes so that patients have the best possible opportunity to live full and productive lives. From our physicians, nursing teams, technicians and researchers to the counselors, administrative staff, and volunteers – everyone embraces the mission of delivering quality patient care.
Do other cancer facilities and medical centers provide the same kinds of treatment options we offer? Certainly. What they can't offer is the same kind of commitment and compassion that patients from all walks of life experience when they walk through our doors. We have our brand of caring, which is something we take great pride in. Every day we hear patients, their loved ones and friends say, "There's something special about Roswell Park."
What it means to be a National Cancer Institute–designated Comprehensive Cancer Center
Roswell Park Cancer Institute (RPCI), founded in 1898, was the nation's first cancer research, treatment and education center. The Institute was one of the first cancer centers in the country to be named a National Cancer Institute–designated comprehensive cancer center and remains the only facility with this designation in Upstate New York. We are one of only 41 such centers in the United States. This designation means that a cancer center's combined research, treatment, prevention and educational programs have weathered extensive peer review, met rigorous national standards, and made fundamental contributions to reducing the cancer burden.
RPCI is also a member of the National Comprehensive Cancer Network (NCCN), an alliance of the nation's leading cancer centers. A not–for–profit organization, the NCCN brings together the best minds in science to engineer continuous quality improvements in cancer care; to improve the effectiveness of cancer care delivery through the ongoing collection and analysis of outcomes data on a national basis; to enhance communication and collaboration among member institutions; to offer access to the latest, most promising clinical trials; and to provide the best practice guidelines and measurement tools.
