Thomas Doyle is justifiably proud of ProCure's Training and Development facility. "This behind-the-scenes treatment training involves everything -- from the anesthesia cart to guiding the patient out the door after the 'ZAP' has been delivered -- from a concentration on the necessary sophisticated technical skills to the 'softer' skills, such as empathy training, that provide so much comfort and reassurance to patients. This training is geared specifically to the needs of radiation oncologists, medical physicists, dosimetrists, radiation therapists and all the other staff involved in proton therapy treatment and patient care,"

The $10 million training center has an external look similar to the ProCure buildings that are treating real patients.  Inside, the building looks very familiar as well because prototypes of all the equipment found at treatment centers are found at the training center.   "Our training program there covers every procedure that can be done at the real hospital site.  Hands-on-training makes it just as real as possible so there will be no surprises about the work required after the intensive 30 day familiarization period is complete."

There is always a chance that people will make a mistake, Thomas points out.. "But, we believe that good training along with good communication between members of our clinical services group will help us avoid or mitigate the potential for error."

The equipment in the training and development center moves "and seems to function" in exactly the same way the expensive machinery functions in real life situations. 

The TDC has three treatment simulators available for training:

1. An inclined-beam room that simulates the ability to direct the proton beam at two angles: horizontal and 60 degrees inclined from the horizontal
2. A gantry room that simulates the full rotation of the proton beam (360 degrees) around the patient
3. A fully operational CT scanner with 4D capabilities that trains radiation therapists to define or "map" the location of the tumor to enable precise co-ordination with the beam

Alignment for delivery is the most critical aspect of proton beam therapy.  Consequently, Participants in this program are familiarized with the robotic machinery that will be doing the heavy work.

"Participants very quickly become familiar with the capabilities of all the technology.  If something 'goes wrong' they will sense it immediately and learn how to deal with situations -- like power failures -- that (hopefully) may never arise.  But if they ever should show up, then our people will be ready to act like pros, and take everything in their most confident stride."

"Learning how to deal with entangling wires may sound like it is of minimal importance, Thomas pointed out.  "But keeping those wires where they belong has a high priority in our state-of-the-art, world class treatment rooms.  Our patients tell everyone that we are the best in the world and we want to make sure they keep right on thinking that we are the best in the world."

The movement of patients into the treatment room and back out to the waiting room is another critical skill for staff members to pick up because the actual treatment takes only a matter of seconds and the next patient should be ready to segue into place.  Nycke White, Director of Patient Services in the Oklahoma City facility stresses how important it is for patients to arrive on time for their appointments. 

"Thank Goodness; all of our patients so far have been really good at getting here on time, and calling us ahead of time if traffic bogs them down -- or some other event gets in their way."

Graduate patients that come back to ProCure for one of the wonderful Wednesday Graduation Fiesta almost mournfully recall that not once did they hear an indignant outburst, witness a loss of temper from patient or staff, or see someone (staff or patient) use even a mild expletive.  "This place feels more like home than home does."

What IS PROTON THERAPY

Protons are positively-charged particles found inside of atoms.

Proton therapy works by the process of ionization.   An extremely accurate beam of radiation is aimed at the mass of cancer molecules in the patient's body.  The strike changes the molecules in the cancer cell and destroys them.. The patient's body is then given enough time between treatments to eliminate the dead cancer cells. The proton beams originate in a cyclotron built beneath the treatment center building with 16 feet of solid concrete around it.

The development of proton therapy actually began way back in the 1950s at accelerator laboratories, and in the last 20 years it has expanded to hospital-based facilities that are built specifically to perform this type of treatment for cancer patients.

Is there a real future
for Participants in this field?

One patient graduating this May from the ProCure treatment center in Oklahoma City came there for treatment originally because "Right now there is a 7 month waiting period for the patients lined up to be treated at Loma Linda California," 

Loma Linda is the first proton therapy center to come online back in 1990. 

ProCure is the first facility in the world devoted entirely to providing proton beam therapy; it is also the first facility in the world to offer an inclined beam treatment room.