Bringing Cancer Care Home

Advancing Cancer Care in Kearney

By Deborah Shanahan

Judging by the traffic at the Fred & Pamela Buffett Cancer Center — Kearney, its impact already is being felt locally by the area’s patients and economy. Perhaps less well known is how the center promises a high level of expertise and innovation in cancer care for residents all over the state.

The Fred & Pamela Buffett Cancer Center is the only National Cancer Institute-designated cancer center in Nebraska and one of just 72 nationally. The Kearney site is the latest addition to Nebraska Medicine’s network of care centers and clinical trial sites, adding to the growing collaboration among researchers and clinical cancer specialists working to hasten breakthroughs.

“We have to spread across Nebraska to make sure every single Nebraskan is taken care of when they have cancer, and that’s what we plan to do,” said Joann Sweasy, Ph.D., director of the Fred & Pamela Buffett Cancer Center.

The location of the new facility near the center of the state is expected to erase hours of travel time for many patients. One woman who celebrated the Kearney facility’s opening in December described her experience of traveling three hours each way to and from Omaha for 35 straight days of treatment. She said she was excited for future patients to have care “in their backyard.”

It’s not just about convenience. “We know patients do better when they’re closer to home,” Sweasy said.

The Kearney facility spans more than 53,000 square feet and brings together services in medical oncology, radiation oncology, lab, pharmacy, infusion, genetic counseling and a healing garden. The Fred & Pamela Buffett Cancer Center — Kearney builds on two decades of practice at Heartland Hematology and Oncology, which partnered with Nebraska Medicine in 2021.

The doctors, faculty and staff are all under the umbrella of the Fred & Pamela Buffett Cancer Center, which has facilities in Omaha at the University of Nebraska Medical Center campus, at Village Pointe Health Center in Omaha, the Bellevue Medical Center and now Kearney.

NCI-designated cancer centers cast a net for treatments beyond the already approved standards of care, looking for cutting-edge treatments that could benefit patients more. One clinical trial, for example, is using a type of therapy that reduces the number of treatments for prostate cancer from 23 to five, cutting treatment time from 6.5 weeks to 3.5 weeks.

A goal in Nebraska, Sweasy said, is to hold trials that take aim at the most frequently diagnosed and deadly cancers in Nebraska. The current disease priorities for recruitment of physician scientists are brain, breast, lung, gastrointestinal and prostate.

Sweasy said the Fred & Pamela Buffett Cancer Center partners with local providers and smaller cancer centers to hold clinical trials and work together on what is needed in their areas of the state. She also wants to expand screening efforts around the state since some Nebraska cancer rates are higher than other states’ and earlier diagnoses are more treatable.

The overall job, she said, is to reduce the cancer burden on the state of Nebraska, and the Kearney, NCI-designated center is crucial to that goal. “Having one in a relatively rural area is pretty unique,” Sweasy said. “It makes a statement: The goal is to serve the entire state of Nebraska.”

For more information about supporting the Fred & Pamela Buffett Cancer Center — Kearney, visit nufoundation.org/fpbcckearney.