MISH Hospital and Clinics Cancer and Blood Center
“Serving Health and Care You Deserve”
This community-based, privately-owned hematology and oncology practice is recognized as one of the leading treatment centers in the metro area offering a full range of services, fully dedicated to treating numerous cancer and blood-related diseases while simultaneously putting the patient’s concerns at the top of the charts through its highly personalized and intimate environment.
If you or a loved one has recently received the unsettling, confusing and frightening diagnosis of cancer, your mind most certainly is filled with questions, concerns, and anxious thoughts: To whom should I turn? Should I seek a second opinion? What are my options? Can I find a superior level of care close to home with access to the latest medical technology? Will I have the time and energy to visit various healthcare professionals at different locations across town?
Rolando Breier, MD, Kelley Young, MD and Rakesh Gaur, MD
Fortunately, there is a center in the Kansas City metro that can confidently answer those questions and more. Designed to not only meet your expectations but to continually exceed them in terms of quality of care, access to the latest in technologies, and the best in compassion, all paired with some of the most talented, dedicated and experienced medical minds in the profession. MISH Hospital and Clinics Cancer and Blood Center, established in 2014, is a community-based and privately owned facility. Located in Lenexa, Kansas, this one-stop hematology and oncology practice is staffed with board-certified oncologists, hematologists, and internal medicine specialists. Additionally, due to the phenomenal success of the practice, a second location is now open in Lee’s Summit at 701 NE Woods Chapel Road. For patients and their families dealing with cancer or blood-related diseases, access to a medical center that provides an intimate and highly personal environment that makes patients feel like a person and not a number, is within arm’s reach.
MISH Hospital and Clinics Cancer and Blood Center was established by Dr. Kelley Young, a general hematologist and oncologist who is also affiliated with St. Luke’s Hospital of Kansas City, St. Luke’s South, St. Joseph Medical Center and Overland Park Regional Medical Center. Dr. Kelley Young treats a vast range of cancer diagnoses and blood disorders. She began this clinic with one primary goal: making the patient and the patient’s support system the top priority and focus (rather than allowing health systems with chaotic clinic schedules to take the wheel).
“Our focus is on the relationship between the doctor and the patient, as well as the patient’s family,” noted Dr. Young, emphasizing that the practice is anything but a quick in and out visit for the patients. “Our patients are given all the time they need with their doctors. The continuity of the relationship between the physician and the patient is a priority for us.”
A graduate of the University of Missouri Medical School, Dr. Young was the recipient of the 2012 NCI Gold Award for Clinical Trial Enrollment.
“Clinical trial participation is a marker for quality and is a priority of ours,” noted Dr. Young. “It has been shown that patients participating in clinical trials have better outcomes. Most patients who have received a diagnosis of cancer have more than one option for management, and that can include a clinical trial, as well as chemotherapy or immune therapy.”
Dr. Young’s interest in oncology was whetted at a young age and is what inspired her to pursue medicine, eager to understand how and why cancer develops. Witnessing her grandmother battle breast cancer, as well as partnering with a strong mentor in cell biology while pursuing her studies, helped stimulate Dr. Young’s interest in this particular field of medicine, one that she understands often brings pain and discomfort to patients, but to which she aspires to deliver hope and promise, as well as a knowledgeable, experienced, friendly and compassionate group of professionals to whom patients can turn to in what is often their darkest hour.
“Throughout your training (in medical school, residency, and fellowship), you learn about medicine, but the delivery of care is developed by your own style,” she explained. The type of style Dr. Young has developed for herself over the years has noticeably revealed itself in this clinic, a place where kindness and compassion are genuine instincts for the people who work there.
“Before I began this clinic, I felt that I was at a point where I wasn’t providing my patients all that I could,” she reflected. “Opening this clinic – dedicated to quality patient care – was truly a leap of faith, and seeing my mission fulfilled has been extremely gratifying.”
Working alongside Dr. Young are two equally renowned, respected and passionate physicians who have embraced Dr. Young’s philosophy: Dr. Rakesh Gaur and Dr. Rolando Breier. Together, this team promises to deliver the best care available, serving health and care their patients deserve.
Dr. Gaur, who received his medical degree from Maulana Azad Medical College, is a specialist in hematology and medical oncology with more than 26 years of experience. Dr. Gaur appreciates the Cancer and Blood Center’s small patient-centric approach coupled with its welcoming feeling.
“Doctors do spend as much time with patients as they want,” explained Dr. Gaur. “No one feels rushed. We offer direct access to your own oncologist at any time. Our oncologists discuss and collaborate with internationally-renowned experts, and as such, a care of international standards is available near your home. Attention to details and perfection is possible in a practice like this. You can practice and provide care in a manner that you would for yourself or your family member. Patients feel they have another family at this center.”
He noted that this one-stop cancer and blood treatment center is not only easy to navigate and convenient for patients, it also provides highly individualized care, where patients are not just a number within the system.
“This is a friendly practice with access to all modern methods of cancer care,” he said.
Dr. Breier joined forces with Dr. Young because he desired to dedicate himself to more personalized cancer care with a higher focus on quality, offering patients the time and support they not only need but also deserve, as they fight one of the toughest battles they might ever face. Dr. Breier attended medical school in Argentina and completed his fellowship and training at the University of Missouri in Columbia, followed by his hospice and palliative care training at Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center in New York City.
“I choose to work here to commit to a higher standard of care and to be able to dedicate more time to my patients and take time to listen to them,” expressed Dr. Breier, who also speaks fluent Spanish. “For cancer patients specifically, we provide a very relaxing place, a place where everyone here is committed to help the patients and go the extra mile.”
Due to the importance of understanding any risks and benefits before deciding on a procedure and/or treatment plan, Dr. Young and her team are dedicated to fully educating their patients. When patients have questions, it’s the center’s goal to provide answers that allow for fully informed decisions to be made.
“On average, I spend 30 minutes with each patient, taking the time to talk about the state of the disease along with treatment options and emotional stressors,” said Dr. Young. “We are also able to plug people into different resources throughout the community.
Working in collaboration with doctors representing a wide range of medical disciplines and specialties, the experts at the Cancer and Blood Center work diligently to understand each individual’s cancer to the fullest extent and treat it effectively. All aspects of a patient’s medical care are addressed through decades of experience and a plethora of resources that allow the physicians to plan, treat and support patients and their families throughout this challenging journey.
The many cancers treated at the MISH Hospital and Clinics Cancer and Blood Center include bladder, leukemia, breast, liver, Hodgkin’s’ Lymphoma, Non-Hodgkin’s Lymphoma, colon and rectal, pancreatic, kidney, prostate, melanoma, head and neck, esophagus and stomach, and multiple myeloma.
The doctors on staff use their experience and knowledge to accurately detect and identify the type of cancer presented within a patient, understanding its effects on the body, place of origin and then create a cancer care plan with respect to treatment and survival. The effectiveness of each patient’s treatment plan is fully monitored using the most advanced tools available. Within the facility itself are five infusion chairs, three infusion nurses, access to clinical trials and the ability to have all lab work drawn on site with an average turn-around time of just minutes.
Using the most advanced technologies available, the team of experts relies on cutting-edge therapies within the metro area while simultaneously providing world-class treatments to aid in the relief of symptoms, retard the growth, and in many cases, cure the disease. The physicians maintain an open door of communications with each patient’s treatment team, which often include a primary care physician, surgeon, and radiation oncologist, working together to ensure the best treatment and the best possible results.
Within its infusion center, chemotherapy is provided to fight cancer and stunt its growth. Used to treat a variety of cancers, it is designed to impair cancer’s ability to divide, invade and spread. However, certain side effects are inevitable and to that end, the Cancer and Blood Center has highly-trained medical oncologists to ensure patients are properly monitored throughout treatment and recovery. The center also has a pain specialist dedicated to helping patients control those types of pain that are challenging to treat.
With hematology patients, blood diseases can impact one’s total health, and educating patients is also a top priority here, as patients can be affected by many types of blood diseases and cancers, including anemia, hemophilia, blood clots, leukemia, lymphoma, and myeloma. The hematologists and oncologist on staff are qualified, experienced and available to continually assist patient’s one-on-one to help prevent further growth of the disease, opening the door to the best possible chance of a cure.
As a member of the National Cancer Institute Community Oncology Research Program (NCORP-KC), the Cancer and Blood Center has direct access to those promising clinical trials offering the latest in cutting-edge treatment and advances in cancer care, all while doing so in a comfortable, welcoming and relaxing environment.
With his eye on the horizon with respect to future advances of the center, Dr. Gaur remains fully optimistic.
“I see this as a highly modern and up-to-date center that will serve as a model for future practices where physicians direct care in the manner they deem is best suited for the patients and their families,” he expressed.
Dr. Young stands in complete solidarity with her team.
“I am proud of what we have built,” she reflected. “This is truly a great option for patients.”
For more information on MISH Hospital and Clinics Cancer and Blood Center, visit them in person at 11227 Lakeview Ave., Lenexa, Kansas or at 701 NE Woods Chapel Rd., Lee’s Summit, Missouri; online at MISHhospital.com; or call 913.258.2800. MISH Hospital and Clinics Cancer and Blood Center accepts most insurance including Medicare, PPO and Missouri Medicaid.
