A focus on health and wholeness

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The Alliance Wellness Clinic helps women shift from managing disease to maximizing quality of life

Women's Wellness Clinic co-directors Barbara Silko (left) and Susan Yaszay review a patient's profile. The weekly Alliance clinic gives patients a healing atmosphere in which to receive optimal cancer screening, information and care. Photo by Todd McNaught

Remaining free from cancer five years after diagnosis is a milestone worth celebrating, but it doesn't erase the needs and concerns many patients feel for years to come.

The Women's Wellness Clinic at the Seattle Cancer Care Alliance offers women who are long-term cancer survivors or genetically at high risk for breast and ovarian cancers a comforting setting in which to receive optimal screening and treatment while shifting the focus from illness to wellness.

"Women who have had cancer never forget," said Barbara Silko, a gynecologic nurse practitioner. "At every clinic visit that's the first thing on their minds."

Silko and Susan Yaszay, a breast-cancer physician's assistant, co-direct the Women's Wellness Clinic. Held every Friday, the clinic offers cancer-prevention information, provides follow-up breast and gynecologic care and evaluates nutritional, physical and mental needs. "Having a broad range of consultations and screening services available in one place at one time and focusing on maximum heath and quality of life is our goal," Yaszay said. "It's like one-stop shopping. It might be a long day, but they can get it all done at once."

A multidisciplinary approach

Launched in December 2003, the Women's Wellness Clinic was created to help patients maintain their relationship with the Alliance, to improve access to clinic appointments and to offer optimal screening and treatment.

Executive directors of the clinic are Dr. Julie Gralow and Dr. Benjamin Greer. Other staff members include Dr. Janet Abrams, psychologist; Andrea Leiserowitz, physical therapist; Jean Stern, nutritionist; and Ksenia Koon, project coordinator.

Clinic patients still see their primary care physicians for most medical care. If at any time a patient followed in the Women's Wellness Center develops a problem requiring urgent treatment, they're immediately referred back to their oncologist.

The clinic's combination of specialized staff and services helps patients shift from managing their disease to managing their wellness. The clinic addresses numerous issues cancer survivors face in pursuit of happy and healthy lives, including eating a healthy diet, managing life without hormones, regaining strength or flexibility, maintaining positive emotional health and working through sexuality and body image issues. "It's truly a multidisciplinary approach," Silko said.

Wellness lectures, news and studies

Besides offering regular appointments — typically at six-month or one-year intervals — the Women's Wellness Clinic sponsors a quarterly lecture series on topics such as nutrition, physical therapy and reducing cancer-risk factors. Dr. Michelle Robeson, a naturopathic physician, presented the most recent lecture, which discussed complementary alternative medicine. The clinic also publishes a quarterly newsletter highlighting news and events related to cancer prevention.

Another exciting aspect of the clinic involves alerting patients to clinical studies related to prevention, screening and survivorship that are ongoing at the University of Washington, Fred Hutchinson and the Alliance. "I've never seen people more dedicated to helping improve treatment for others than people who've survived cancer," Silko said. "They are the first to enroll."

Looking ahead, the clinic hopes to begin offering regular appointments with a naturopath and a massage therapist. "We're still in our infancy," Silko said, "but we have lots of ideas."

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