It took less than a week for the entire team to develop an authentic relationship with me, and I with them.
Hunt FalesHunt Fales did not have a good history with Western medicine. His own, and his late wife’s experience had left him feeling jaded, skeptical and cynical. When he was diagnosed with prostate cancer in 2022, he understood the importance of finding a provider and care team that listened to his concerns and cared about him as a person.
After a personality clash with a provider in his local health system, Fales asked his wife to help him find alternatives. “Cathy began researching options and focused on Dartmouth Cancer Center,” says Fales. She noted that John D. Seigne, MB, Section Chief of Urology took a patient-first approach. They made an appointment. “From our home in Windham, Vermont, Dartmouth Cancer Center seemed far away but it was just 20 minutes farther than other options,” says Fales.
Those extra 20 minutes paid off.
Before his first meeting with Dr. Seigne, Fales had blood drawn. “He got to the examination room very nearly on time!” says Fales. “He analyzed my condition and blood work with active listening. There was no judgment. He even left room for a little conversational meandering so we could get to know each other.”
Fales’ next trip to Dartmouth Cancer Center was for an MRI. Given his past experience, he was very stressed. “My first and only experience with MRIs was for imagery focused on my jaw and throat. Shortly after being slid into the tube I said, ‘Get me out of here!’ The tech was busy and didn’t respond. I shouted until he heard me.” His MRI experience at Dartmouth Cancer Center was, happily, the opposite. “As soon as the MRI technician introduced himself, I declared my concerns,” says Fales. “I dreaded being encased in the machine. Even with all the resistance I was feeling, I could detect empathy in the technician’s voice. He said that I might be tall enough for my head to remain outside the tube." The technician suggested they do a test to see.
“I felt seen,” says Fales. “I was heard. From the receptionist signing me in to the technician leading me to the changing room, each person revealed something of themselves. Nothing sounded repetitive from someone who didn’t care or wasn’t interested in their job.”
Over the next weeks and months, Fales says he was “poked, examined and scanned some more.” As part of his radiation therapy, two 24-carat coils were inserted into his prostate gland. Three locational tattoos and hip raisers positioned him accurately on the radiation treatment table. “During all of this, I continued to feel seen and heard,” says Fales. “My cynicism dissolved. Even my skepticism softened.”
Fales wonders if Dartmouth Cancer Center has a culture or caring because it is part of an academic medical center. “A teaching hospital has a different aura,” says Fales. “There is a sense of shared curiosity. That energy infused each member of my radiation team as I got to know them. Each of the five, rotating, technicians usually greeted me with ‘Hi, how was your weekend?’ or ‘How do you feel today?’ Their eyes connected with mine as I explained in some detail my side effects. It took less than a week for the entire team to develop an authentic relationship with me, and I with them.”
Radiation Oncology goes 3D
What does the Radiation Oncology Department of Dartmouth Cancer Center look like? From the front entrance to all the places, people and state-of-the-art technology that patients interact with along the way, Radiation Oncology invites you to come see in 3D.
Terrible at remembering names, Fales was motivated to learn the Radiation Oncology team members' names because they always remembered his. When the Barbie movie came out, he told one technician that he and his wife were going to see it. “She said she was interested to hear our take on it because she loved it,” says Fales. “I learned about each of their lives as they learned about mine.”
Focused attention was given by everyone Fales interacted with during his course of radiation treatment. “What a gift for me to experience this awareness and consideration after being so resistant to entering any treatment program that involved a hospital,” says Fales.
His radiation treatment is over but Fales’ experience at Dartmouth Cancer Center is staying with him. “On the way home from my last treatment I told Cathy, ‘Now I’m the one who is honored to say I’m part of the Dartmouth Cancer Center radiation oncology team – as an advocate.'”
Read the letter Hunt sent to Dartmouth Cancer Center.