The Joyce Murtha Breast Care Center (JMBCC) is located in a secluded area on the grounds of Windber Medical Center. This venture began as a collaboration between Walter Reed Army Medical Center (WRAMC)
and WMC. The Joyce Murtha Breastcare Center at Windber Medical Center opened in February 2002 offering full diagnostic services for breast health and disease in one convenient location.
The Joyce Murtha
Breast Care Center celebrated their 5th anniversary this
year. On Friday, February 23, 2007 the campus held a
special anniversary celebration.
Candidate's wife hails Windber's cancer care
Breast care center marks anniversary
Local health center upgrades mammography equipment
Cancer survivors, fighters honored
The role of Magnetic Resonance Imaging (MRI) in breast
diagnosis is evolving as technology improves and clinical
experience with new techniques expands. In the past four years,
the number of breast MRI exams performed annually in the U.S.
has more than quadrupled. This tremendous growth is due not
only to more widespread acceptance of breast MRI as a
problem-solving tool outside the university hospital setting but
also to the recognition that breast MRI may be clinically useful
in other contexts as well. Breast MRI is an essential component
of the comprehensive breast care program at Windber Medical
Center. The new 8-channel High Density coil has a huge and
homogenous field of view that has spatial resolution without
temporal compromise. The new coil allows lateral and medial
access for MR-guided biopsy, enabling clinicians to get
significantly more information without inconveniencing their
patients.
You can call Taunia Oechslin, of
Westmont many things: an optimist, determined, dedicated and
even headstrong.
But one thing she doesn’t want you to call her is a breast
cancer survivor.
“That’s bad karma,” said Oechslin.
“Because you don’t survive breast cancer, you fight breast
cancer. I am a breast cancer fighter,” she said.
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In the United States, breast cancer is the most common cancer in women and the second leading cause of female cancer death (only lung cancer has more). Approximately one in seven women will develop breast cancer in her lifetime. The American Cancer Society estimates in 2007 that
178,480 American women and 2,030 American men will be diagnosed with breast cancer. It is estimated that 40,460 women and 450 men will die from breast cancer this year. 
The Joyce Murtha Breast Care Center offers a full range of diagnostic and treatment services related to breast health and disease, including lymphedema evaluation and treatment, genetic counseling, mind-body counseling and cosmetology services. In addition, bone densitometry is available to diagnose osteoporosis. The Center houses a digital mammography unit as well as film screen mammography equipment. Stereotactic breast biopsy, using the Mammotome™ device offers women a less painful, less invasive way of having a breast lump biopsied for diagnosis. Ultrasound equipment also provides diagnostic capabilities at the Center.
Learn more about the latest breast cancer clinical trials at JMBCC...
The unique,
patented J.M. WindberCare® gown developed especially for JMBCC is now available for purchase by individuals and institutions.
Learn more...
The ultra-high technology equipment is just one facet of the Joyce Murtha Breast Care Center. The human component is equally important. The emphasis is on treating our patients and their families with respect and dignity throughout their care. The private location sets the stage for the personalized, compassionate care that each patient receives from the moment she enters the doors. The exam/dressing rooms ensure the privacy and confidentiality that is so important to patients and their families.
In the
Planetree tradition, the environment itself is "healing" in nature, soothing to the senses, and envelops our patients in holistic nurturing that is so vital to caring for the entire person: body, mind, and spirit. Women and their loved ones who choose the Joyce Murtha Breast Care Center can be assured of receiving the utmost in quality care and education so that they may achieve and maintain the best possible breast health. Whether you are coming for a routine mammogram, or you have detected a breast lump, or you are being treated for breast cancer, your multidisciplinary plan of care will combine the best of science and medicine in a warm, friendly environment provided by highly skilled, compassionate individuals.
In addition to all of the above elements, perhaps the most exciting are the clinical trials that are being conducted. A breast cancer vaccine to prevent recurrence of breast cancer, and a trial for individuals who are at high risk for breast cancer are just two of the clinical protocols currently being conducted. To find out if you or a loved one are candidates for either of these trials, please call one of the numbers at the bottom of the page.
The Joyce Murtha Breast Care Center is currently collecting and storing breast cancer tissue samples for anonymous analysis, and is enrolling eligible civilians from across the country in
a clinical trial.
BREAST CANCER VACCINE CLINICAL TRIAL
The purposes of the study are: (1) To test the Her2/neu
peptides (pieces of the protein) GP2 and AE37, as vaccines
to determine if they can prevent breast cancer recurrence;
(2) To look at the immune system’s response to these
vaccines; and (3) To continue to collect information on the
vaccines’ safety and dosing.
To be eligible for either arm
of the trial, an individual must have:
-
been diagnosed with invasive breast cancer
with or without lymph node involvement
-
tumor that expresses Her2neu (by IHC
results1-3+ and/or FISH > 1.2)
-
completed standard surgical, medical and/or radiation
treatment (including Herceptin, if applicable) within the
past six months
-
no current evidence of disease
-
no autoimmune disorders
-
no involvement with other breast cancer clinical
trials, unless permission is granted by the other Principal
Investigator
-
a screening process with the vaccine nurse for
additional lab testing or general health criteria
The trials are sponsored by
the U.S. Military Cancer Institute and are conducted at multiple
military health centers for military beneficiaries. Eligible
civilians may enroll at Windber Medical Center. Active
participation requires monthly clinic visits for up to seven
months, and telephonic monitoring for five years. For
further information, please call the Joyce Murtha Breast Care
Center at (814) 467-0044 or toll-free (866) 253-4703 and ask for
the vaccine nurse.
Principal Investigators
COL George E
Peoples, MD
Dianna Craig, MD
Chief of Surgical Oncology Joyce Murtha Breast Care Center
Brooke Army Medical
Center
Windber Medical Center
3851 Roger Brooke Drive
600 Somerset Avenue
Fort Sam Houston, TX 78234
Windber, PA 15963
Through the efforts of the Windber Research Institute, world-class scientists are now working closely with the Joyce Murtha Breast Care Center to track and identify those 'markers' in an individual's blood that may predispose her to breast cancer. Tissue banking and microarray technology are being carried out in the Windber Research Institute; these advances in research and molecular biology enable our scientists to store and study thousands of samples of tissue which may help facilitate the understanding of breast cancer. And understanding a disease is often the first step in conquering it.
Joyce Murtha Breast Care Center
of Windber Medical Center
Windber Medical Center
600 Somerset Avenue,
Windber PA 15963
Tel: (814) 467-0044
Toll Free: (866) 253-4703
Fax: (814) 467-0725 |
•
Patty Felton, RN, BSN:
Director (E-mail:
pfelton@conemaugh.org)
• Maureen Pavlik, RN, BS, CCM: Vaccine Case Manager (E-mail: mpavlik@conemaugh.org) |
