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Canine Therapy Dogs Help Distribute Backpacks to Children’s Diagnostic & Treatment Center Patients & Siblings
from Our City Hollywood
COMMUNITY NEWS Canine Therapy Dogs Help Distribute Backpacks to Children’s Diagnostic & Treatment Center Patients & Siblings
For the families of Children’s Diagnostic & Treatment Center (CDTC), Back to School became a community effort this year. The Center traditionally distributes school supplies in August to help prepare children with special needs and their siblings for a new school year. With the COVID-19 pandemic still limiting community gatherings, this year’s event looked tremendously different while still providing the same excitement and smiles.
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CDTC staff and volunteers hosted a series of outdoor “brigades” in the Center’s parking garage the week before school began. Nearly 600 children received a new backpack and supplies as they drove through the pick-up line. Volunteers and their dogs from Canine Assisted Therapies joined the brigades, visiting vehicles to the delight of children and adults.
The Center’s families also received an additional boost this year. Each family received groceries and snack packs from Helping Hands Food Drives, a gift card to assist with hurricane supplies and a Wellness Kit from Broward Health.
“We knew our annual Back to School distribution would be challenging this year with so many questions about the start of school and the need for social distancing,” shares CDTC Executive Director Ana Calderon Randazzo, Ph.D. “But we couldn’t let our families down when so many are in need.”
CDTC’s Primary Care Center and Care Coordinators will continue distributing
another 100 backpacks to families who couldn’t make it to the Brigades to pickup items. In all, the Center hopes to deliver around 600 backpacks this year. “We are incredibly grateful to the community for providing funds and supplies this year, including the Community Foundation of Broward, The SMART Ride, 626 and Wright Maritime,” shares Dr. Calderon Randazzo.
n Children’s Diagnostic & Treatment Center (CDTC) is a not-for-profit that serves more than 12,000 clients with special healthcare needs in Broward County annually. As a facility of Broward Health, CDTC’s mission is to promote the optimal health and well-being of children with special healthcare needs by providing comprehensive prevention, intervention, and treatment services. CDTC was is a recognized National Committee for Quality Assurance (NCQA) Patient-Centered Medical Home (PCMH) offering a unique system of care for infants, children, youth and women with chronic illnesses, disabilities, and developmental delays. For more information, visit ChildrensDiagnostic.org.
THE DONOWAY CENTER
NEW HOPE FOR PANCREATIC CANCER PATIENTS
Robert B. Donoway, M.D., F.A.C.S., F.S.S.O. Diplomate American Board of Surgery Diplomate, Society of Surgical Oncology Former Medical Director Memorial Cancer Center Medical Director, Atlas Oncology: Institute for Pancreatic Cancer IRE/NanoKnife Ablation
Patients diagnosed with Pancreatic Cancer have few treatment options. However, a new procedure called Irreversible Electroporation or IRE for short has changed that for many patients who are seeing a doubling and tripling of their life expectancies. Dr. Robert Donoway, who has one of the largest International experiences for performing this procedure on the pancreas and liver is a Hollywood based, Sloan Kettering trained Pancreatic Surgical Oncologist, and former medical director of two of the local cancer programs remains among a very small handful of Pancreatic surgeons who perform the procedure which is done in the operating room as an outpatient. During the procedure, Dr. Donoway places fine needle probes under direct ultrasound guidance into and around the pancreatic tumor while carefully avoiding critical structures. High voltage current up to 3000 volts is then delivered in 90-microsecond pulses synchronized with the patient’s heart rhythm to avoid any cardiac problems. The pulses destroy the cancer cell membranes which then causes the tumor to die and be absorbed by the body. The average procedure lasts approximately 1-2 hours and the patients may be discharged the following day. A brief recovery means the patient can start chemotherapy and radiation that much sooner. Dr. Donoway is participating in several clinical studies identifying the best chemotherapy and immunotherapies to be used along with IRE. Dr. Donoway states, “The results so far have been very encouraging and we have begun using it for other select cancers. The longest survivors are now out over 5 years and without evidence of cancer recurrence. In the past, without IRE they would have been likely to have only lived a year and so this technique opens the whole new avenue for treating those eligible patients in a more targeted fashion.” For more information about Dr. Donoway and the Pancreatic-IRE/NanoKnife Program and clinical trials call 305-682-1995 and visit www.AtlasOncology.com
4000 Hollywood Boulevard • Suite 160 North • Hollywood, Florida 33021 Phone: 954-986-6366, 305-682-1995 • Fax: 954-986-4355 www.AtlasOncology.com
Robert B. Donoway, M.D., F.A.C.S., F.S.S.O. Surgical Oncology & Pancreatic Surgical Oncology
Practice specializing in Cancer of the Pancreas, Liver, GI Tract, Sarcoma, Adrenal, Thyroid, Parathyroid, and Melanoma. Laparoscopic and Image Guided Cancer Surgery, IRE/NanoKnife for Non-Resectable Pancreatic and Liver Cancer.
Dr. Donoway is a board certified Fellowship-trained Surgical Oncologist who received his MD and Surgical training at the University of Pennsylvania. He completed his fellowship in Surgical Oncology at Sloan-Kettering where he was the General Motors Cancer Research Fellow. He has taught on the faculty at Penn, Sloan-Kettering, University of Miami and Nova Southeastern. Dr. Donoway is the former Medical Director of the Memorial Cancer Institute and Chairman of the Cancer Committee for the Memorial Healthcare System as well as Chief of Surgery and Surgical Oncology at Memorial Regional in Hollywood. Dr. Donoway served on the Board of the American Cancer Society & Gildas Club. He has also served as past President of the American Cancer Society Broward County Chapter. Dr. Donoway is active in the Society of Surgical Oncology and the American Pancreatic Association. His accomplishments include being the first Surgeon in Florida to perform Radio Frequency Ablation as well as Laparoscopic Liver Resection. Dr. Donoway is a recent recipient of the South Florida Health Award for the use of Micro-Endoscopy for the detection of early stage Breast Cancer. Dr. Donoway is the Medical Director of the Institute of Breast Cancer Prevention and has been repeatedly named to “TOP DOCTORS IN AMERICA” by Castle Connolly. Dr. Donoway is the ONLY surgeon in Florida performing specialized Pancreatic and Liver ablation therapy for non-resectable tumors. Dr. Donoway is the Former Chair of the Aventura Cancer Committee at Aventura Hospital and Medical Center. Dr. Donoway has privileges and operates at Aventura Hospital, Memorial Regional, Memorial South and Memorial West.
