HouseCall •
www.christushospital.org
7
ViCKi SUiRe anD Donna
BeRnaRD aRe liKe SiSTeRS.
Bernard comforted and consoled Suire
when Suire was diagnosed with breast
cancer, helping her through chemotherapy
treatments and continually checking up
on her as if she were her patient. That’s
just what Suire was – her patient.
But Bernard did not just take Suire’s
blood pressure and ensure she was receiv-
ing the appropriate medication. Bernard
did more than was required of her as a
registered nurse in the Chemotherapy and
Infusion Center at CHRISTUS Hospital –
St. Mary. She said she treated Suire the way
she would have wanted to be treated had
she been the one diagnosed with breast
cancer.
“
I love her just like she’s a sister,”
Bernard says.
Suire was diagnosed in 2007, and
every Friday morning she spent in che-
motherapy for 18 months, Bernard was
there. They talked about family, friends
and life. Suire says it was like sitting in
her own living room, and she could not
imagine driving to Houston to receive
treatment when care was available so
close to home.
“
The people here treat you like you’re
their family,” Suire says. “They don’t treat
you like you’re a patient.”
Sometimes they treat you better than
your family would, she says with a laugh.
She says she would not let anyone but
CHRISTUS Hospital –
St. Mary patient Vicki
Suire and nurse Donna
Bernard share a special
moment at the opening
of the CHRISTUS
Chemotherapy and
Infusion Center.
CHRISTUS
Hospital –
St. Mary opens
expanded
chemo center
Bernard treat her – and now Bernard will
be able to help even more women and men
who have been diagnosed with cancer. The
hospital officially opened its expanded
Chemotherapy and Infusion Center.
In September, the Greater Port Arthur
Chamber of Commerce held a ribbon-
cutting ceremony, and the center, which
has doubled in size, was open for tours. The
Rev. Jose Mundadan blessed the center
before the ribbon-cutting.
The expanded center has 10 treatment
rooms so more people can receive chemo-
therapy locally, says Ramesh Karia, MD,
medical director of the center. Patients
can get their chemotherapy and infusion
treatments and still go home at night to
sleep in their own beds.
“
This is just another blessing to this
area,” Mayor Deloris “Bobbie” Prince said
at the ribbon-cutting.
People have someplace close to home
to go when they get the news that no one
wants to hear, she said.
And although Suire may not have been
treated in the newly expanded space, she
was treated by the same staff that will
help all new patients at the CHRISTUS
Chemotherapy and Infusion Center.
Bernard, one of the three nurses at the
center, has been doing chemotherapy and
infusion treatments for 21 years.
“
That’s what we work for: love and com-
fort,” Bernard says.
Photo and story published with permission of the
Port Arthur News
Patients can
get their
chemotherapy
and infusion
treatments and
still go home at
night to sleep in
their own beds.
Ramesh Karia, MD, medical
director of the newly opened
CHRISTUS Chemotherapy &
Infusion Center.