Our Patient Experience

Our Promise

Working closely with your primary care doctor, our world-class team of leukemia experts — who devote 100 percent of their professional lives to understanding, preventing and curing leukemia — will be at your side and your family’s side, every step of the way. As a Roswell Park patient, you have our unconditional promise that you will:

• Have full access to information, options, services, resources and research protocols.
• Be an active and informed participant in all aspects of your leukemia care.
• Receive comprehensive care based on the unique features of your specific type of leukemia.

Better Outcomes Through Multidisciplinary Care

Whether you’re seeking treatment as an inpatient or outpatient, you will be surrounded by a highly experienced network of specialists who concentrate on treating leukemia — just leukemia. They provide multidisciplinary care, which is a major factor in our patients’ excellent outcomes.

The idea of multidisciplinary cancer care — which unites the knowledge and advice of specialists from many areas of medicine — was pioneered by our founder, Dr. Roswell Park, in 1898. He placed the patient at the center of a team of experts, all sharing insights and observations and working together to create the best treatment plan. The new approach brought remarkable results: cancer patients began to live longer.

Today, the multidisciplinary team that treats leukemia patients at Roswell Park has evolved to include professionals who are involved in all facets of care. We call on the best combination of pathologists, radiologists, surgeons, and chemotherapy and radiotherapy specialists — as well as research scientists, nurses and nurse practitioners, rehabilitation therapists, psychologists, social workers, pain management experts, genetics counselors, nutritionists, among others — that your unique case requires. In turn, they collaborate with your primary care physician to tailor your treatment plan and ensure continuity of care from diagnosis through long-term follow-up.

Meeting of the Minds

Roswell Park physicians who treat leukemia hold weekly meetings with members of the Blood or Marrow Transplant (BMT) team and research scientists, to review the cases of all patients who might be candidates for BMT or for enrollment on new clinical research studies. Every case is reviewed from many perspectives to consider all the options and achieve the best possible outcome.

Quality of Life

Quality healthcare means more than just medical tests and successful treatments. The goal is to live longer, but also to have the highest possible quality of life, so you can continue to enjoy the things you love most. That’s why we will consider your unique physical, psychological and practical needs when developing your treatment plan.

Compassionate, Competent Caregiving

Roswell Park nurses are among the best in the nation, earning Magnet® Recognition for nursing excellence, a top national honor bestowed by the American Nurses Credentialing Center (ANCC). This is a distinction held by just 6 percent of the hospitals in the United States, with Roswell Park being the only one in Western New York to earn Magnet status. In Magnet hospitals, patient outcomes are better and length of stay is shorter.

Living with Cancer

At Roswell Park, we believe that survivorship begins at diagnosis and lasts a lifetime, with uninterrupted access to specialized cancer care and support. We want to ensure that any early warning signs of recurrence are detected and treated immediately; that all your present and long-term needs — physical, psychosocial, nutritional, spiritual, legal — related to living with cancer are met; and that routine preventive and follow-up care is always available to enhance your health, well-being and peace of mind.