Your health care team at The Verspeeten (Oncologist, Primary Nurse, Chemotherapy Nurse, Pharmacist, Dietitian, etc.) is responsible for your cancer treatment and care.
Your Family Doctor is responsible for all non-cancer related health care (e.g., blood pressure, diabetes, etc.).
Your health care team at The Verspeeten and other sites may include any of the following people:
Doctors
Oncologist: An oncologist is a doctor who specializes in caring for people with cancer. You may have more than one type of oncologist on your health care team, depending on your treatment plan.
Medical Oncologist: Medical oncologists are doctors who specialize in using drug therapy to treat cancer. Drug therapy includes chemotherapy, immunotherapy or targeted therapy.
Radiation Oncologist: Radiation oncologists are doctors who specialize in treating cancer with radiation.
Surgical Oncologist: Surgical oncologists are doctors who specialize in using surgery to treat cancer
Nurses
Oncology nurses: Oncology nurses specialize in caring for people with cancer. Nurses work
closely with your health care team and help coordinate your care. Your Registered Nurse will:
- Teach you about your treatment
- Teach you how to manage side effects
- Give you information about services that are available in your community
Chemotherapy Nurse: Chemotherapy nurses have specialized training to give chemotherapy. Your
nurse will teach you how to care for yourself during treatment and manage any side effects related to your chemotherapy.
Nurse Practitioners (NP): Nurse practitioners (NP) can assess your health, order and interpret test
results, perform procedures such as biopsies, prescribe medications, order chemotherapy, and screen to prevent other illnesses.
Radiation Nurses: Radiation nurses work closely with your radiation oncologist and radiation therapists to care for you during your radiation treatments. They assess how you are doing throughout treatment and will help you cope with any changes you may experience.
Telephone Triage Nurse: If you have a change in your condition, call telephone triage nursing at The
Verspeeten for help. The nurses can assess your situation and assist you in getting the help that you need. Call 519-685-8600 and press ‘1’ for patient, then press ‘3’ to reach the Telephone Triage Nursing Line.
Supportive Care Staff
Registered Dietitians: Registered dietitians can check your nutritional health and identify and treat nutritional problems. They can help you manage side effects through nutrition. See the ‘Nutrition’ section to learn more about how registered dietitians can help you.
Social Workers: Social workers can help you and your family cope with the emotional and practical concerns you may experience with cancer. See the ‘Counselling’ section to learn more about how a social worker can support you.
Radiation Staff
Radiation Therapist: Radiation therapists deliver your daily radiation treatments. They help plan your treatment and operate the machines that use carefully targeted doses of radiation to kill cancer cells. Radiation therapists will also teach you about side effects related to radiation therapy and how to manage them.
Medical Physicist: Medical physicists work mostly behind the scenes to make sure that every radiation plan is designed and delivered safely. They check every patient’s plan to make sure it has been calculated properly. They also make sure that the machines delivering these plans are operating correctly.
Other Verspeeten Health Care Staff
Drug Access Facilitator: The drug access facilitator can help you understand your drug coverage and the types of help available to you. See the ‘Finances’ section to learn more about how a drug access facilitator can support you.
Clinical Trials Advisor: A clinical trials advisor helps connect patients to the research teams overseeing the clinical trials. For more information, you can email cancertrials@lhsc.on.ca or call 519-685-8618.
Clinical Research Associate: You may be approached by a researcher to talk about joining a clinical trial. A clinical trial is a research study that is looking at new ways of treating cancer. You will have the final decision about whether you want to take part in a clinical trial.
Palliative Care: The palliative care team is a group of professionals who support people with advanced cancer. The team consists of doctors, nurses, social workers, a spiritual care specialist, and others. Their focus is on pain and symptom control and meeting the physical, emotional, psychological and spiritual needs of the patient and family.
Pharmacists/Pharmacy Technicians: The pharmacy provides patients with drugs prescribed by the doctor. They can also answer any questions or concerns you have about your medicines.
Indigenous Patient Navigator: The Indigenous patient navigator provides support for First Nations, Inuit, and Metis (FNIM) and urban Indigenous patients and families with cancer. The Indigenous Patient Navigator addresses cultural and spiritual needs and works to improve access to cancer services for FNIM patients and families.
Cancer Genetics Program: The Cancer Genetics Program provides services to patients who are concerned about their personal and/or family history of cancer. A doctor can refer people who are considered to be at risk for an inherited cancer to the Cancer Genetics Program.
Students: London Health Sciences Centre is a teaching hospital. Students who are gaining experience in cancer care may be part of your team. Students may include medical students, residents, radiation therapy students, and more.
Volunteers: There are many LHSC volunteers who volunteer their time in The Verspeeten. They are available to help make your visit more comfortable. You will see them in their vests all throughout the Centre. They are a great resource and are always happy to answer any questions you may have about the Centre.
Cancer Care Delivered at Other Sites
During your cancer journey, you may receive care at a different location than Verspeeten. In some cases, this means that you will be receiving care closer to home. This may be for chemotherapy or for care transitions after your treatment is complete. No matter where you receive care and who your care provider is, the quality of care is the same.
Other Care Providers
You may be receiving support from individuals outside of the hospital for complementary or alternative therapies. Complementary therapies are used together with conventional cancer treatments such as chemotherapy and radiation. Alternative therapies are used instead of conventional cancer
treatments.
It is important for your health care team to keep track of all the therapies that you are participating in outside of the hospital. These may include acupuncture, Ayurveda, chiropractic therapy, naturopathic medicine, Chinese herbal medicine, and special diets or supplements, among others. Tell your health care team about your current or planned therapies. They will be able to tell you if the therapy is safe during your cancer treatment.
It is also important to tell your pharmacist about any vitamins, minerals or herbal products that you are taking to avoid serious interactions with medications. See the ‘Nutrition’ section for more information.
