Pilot Site Profile
St. Joseph Medical Center, Towson, Maryland
St. Joseph Cancer Institute
Web sites:
Hospital: www.sjmcmd.org
Cancer Center: www.sjmcmd.org/cancer/aboutUs.cfm
John K. Tolmie, CEO, St. Joseph Medical Center
Mark J. Krasna, MD, Medical Director, St. Joseph Cancer Institute, Principal Investigator
Lucy Shamash RN, Executive Director, SJCI
Background
St. Joseph Medical Center is a 363-bed healthcare facility serving the city and 5-county area of Baltimore, including the region surrounding the Chesapeake and Delaware Bays. It is located in a suburban community of Towson, Md., within Baltimore County. The St. Joseph Cancer Institute offers patients comprehensive cancer screening, diagnosis, surgery, chemotherapy, radiation therapy, home care, and hospice. The Cancer Institute’s new facility is scheduled to open in 2007. The hospital treated 1,072 new cancer patients in 2005 and 1,005 in 2006.
Patient Service Area
More than half of the medical center’s patients come from outside the primary service area, defined as a 12-mile radius of the hospital. Nearly 25 percent of the service area is African American, and there are higher concentrations of adults over 55 in the area than the national average. The overall cancer incidence rate is significantly higher than the national average, especially for lung and esophageal cancer.
Access and Outreach Initiatives
St. Joseph operates a 38-foot clinic on wheels, equipped with two exam rooms, to reach neighborhoods in Baltimore City that would otherwise lack direct access to healthcare. In 2006, more than 40 St. Joseph physicians performed pro bono care to more than 2,500 primarily Hispanic residents through the mobile St. Clare Medical Outreach Coach.
