| Print | EmailEast Tennesseans Recognize '100 Angels' at UT Medical Center |
 |
| Monday, September 29, 2008 |
|
 Cancer Survivor Celebrates Milestone and Birthday With Her Physician
Doris Cox’s birthday wish may have, at first, sounded a bit unusual to many. On her 51st birthday, the only thing the Crossville resident wanted to do was visit Dr. Robert Bertoli, a radiation oncologist at The University of Tennessee Medical Center.
Her wish came true.
“Dr. Bertoli is such a good doctor and great person,” said Cox, just moments after giving Bertoli a big hug in the Radiation Oncology Unit at the medical center. “He’s just a special angel sent down from God.”
This birthday is significant for Cox, because she’s still alive to celebrate it.
A four-time cancer survivor, Cox said that in August 2003, representatives with the facility that first diagnosed her with cancer told her she had just a 15 percent chance of surviving for five years. September makes five years and one month since that diagnosis. Shortly after that diagnosis, Cox switched her cancer care to UT Medical Center, where she met Bertoli, who has been overseeing Cox’s cancer treatment plan ever since.
“He will call you at home at 8:30 at night, and he’s still in the office, just to let you know a test result,” said Cox. “He doesn’t want his patients to spend days worrying about test results. If it’s good news, he’s so excited to let me know about it, and if it’s bad news he always calls with a plan for how to treat it. He’s just so wonderful. He takes the time with you.”
Cox said she thought for some time about how to thank Bertoli for the care and compassion he provided. That’s when she saw a brochure for the Guardian Angel Program at UT Medical Center. The program allows patients and their family members who have been touched during their stay at UT Medical Center to express their appreciation to a caregiver or employee of the medical center.
Cox said the name guardian angel was perfect for Bertoli when she decided to recognize him for the five years of care and compassion she’s received from the radiation oncologist.
“Dr. Bertoli doesn’t take the credit,” said Cox. “He gives the credit to God. He is an angel doing the work of God.”
“I think the Guardian Angel Program is a great thing, and Mrs. Cox is very nice to give the recognition,” said Bertoli. “But in terms of personal credit, I can’t take any because I’m not the one who made her better. God did.”
Bertoli also credits Cox’s strong family support as well as the compassion shown by his own staff members for contributing to Cox’s ability to repeatedly battle and beat cancer. Bertoli said his staff of front office personnel, nurses, therapists, physicists and other UT Medical Center physicians and medical personnel all work together to treat the patient as though they were treating a brother or sister. And one element critical to the success of Doris Cox, added Bertoli, is the overwhelmingly positive attitude that Cox brought to the care process.
“Doris is the type of person that you can see in her eyes a special goodness and kindness, even in the most difficult of circumstances,” said Bertoli. “There are some people I treat for very serious illnesses, and I see them and treat them week after week. And each week those patients actually make you feel better. Doris Cox is that kind of patient.”
With Cox’s recognition of Bertoli, the radiation oncologist becomes the 100th employee at UT Medical Center to be recognized as a guardian angel. Initiated in late 2007, the program helped fill a need often expressed by patients and their family members, according to the Office of Development for UT Medical Center and UT Graduate School of Medicine.
“Patients and their family members kept telling our staff they wanted to find a way to let everyone know about the outstanding personalized care they received,” said Rick Giecek, chief development officer for the medical center and graduate school of medicine. “People wanted to donate to the medical center to benefit patient care for years to come. But they also wanted the person with whom they developed such a close bond, that person who essentially served as their guardian angel while they were here in the hospital, to be recognized in the process. The Guardian Angel Program seems to be exactly what people wanted, and we’re very appreciative that they’ve recognized so many of our employees who work so hard at providing outstanding care.”
It certainly seemed to be the right program for Doris Cox. After Cox placed the Angel-shaped lapel pin on Bertoli’s lab coat, she gave her doctor one more hug, picked up her birthday card from the entire staff of Radiation Oncology and left to make the trip back home to Crossville.
The smile on her face could have illuminated the entire ground floor of the medical center.
“If it weren’t for Dr. Bertoli and UT Medical Center, I wouldn’t be here today,” said Cox. “I thank God and thank UT Medical Center.”
|
|
|
