FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE:
A Community Hospital Leads the Fight against the Number One Cancer Killer
Norwalk Hospital is First Hospital in New England to Receive
The Joint Commission’s Gold Seal of Approval® for Lung Cancer Care
Norwalk, CT, July 1, 2013 -- A community hospital in the tri-state area has taken the lead in the
fight against lung cancer and has been nationally recognized for its efforts. Norwalk Hospital,
located in Fairfield County Connecticut, has become the first hospital in New England to earn The
Joint Commission’s Gold Seal of Approval® for its lung cancer program. This honor
acknowledges Norwalk Hospital for meeting The Joint Commission’s national standards for health
care quality and safety in lung cancer care. Norwalk Hospital has achieved this distinction as a
"Lung Cancer Center of Excellence" through its integrated approach to providing world-class lung
cancer care.
Certification requirements address ongoing specialized staff education and training, patient
assessment, pain management, tumor board representation, dedicated navigator for lung cancer
patients, effective measures to evaluate quality of care and patient/family satisfaction, smoking
cessation program and psycho-social support for the patient. “The Joint Commission’s Gold Seal
of Approval® affirms that Norwalk Hospital is doing the right thing for the patient; that our focus is
patient-centered; and that our staff and physicians have excellent training,” according to Dr. Klaus
Thaler, chairman of the Department of Surgery.
Lung cancer is the leading cause of cancer death in men and in women. According to the
American Cancer Society (ACS), each year more people die of lung cancer than of colon, breast,
and prostate cancers combined. The ACS also estimates that there will be 159,480 deaths from
lung cancer (87,260 in men and 72,220 among women) in 2013.
The Norwalk Hospital Lung Cancer Center of Excellence offers:
 Groundbreaking treatments and programs such as robotic surgery and family/children
integration in the patient care process.
 An integrated approach to care by a multidisciplinary team of experts, including nine board
certified pulmonologists to provide diagnostic and treatment services; board certified
radiologists who are leaders in screening and diagnostic procedures; two highly credentialed
thoracic surgeons who are experts in lung cancer surgery; a dedicated oncology nurse
practitioner and patient services coordinator/navigator to help patients and families manage
the healthcare process from appointments to chemotherapy education and teaching.
 Physicians, nurses, respiratory therapists and other health care professionals associated with
the Lung Cancer Center of Excellence are required to complete additional education to stay
abreast of treatment updates.
 Comprehensive patient focused care, including nutrition support, physical rehabilitation,
integrative medicine, emotional coping support and cancer survivorship program.
 Cancer clinical trials that offer patients the opportunity to participate in novel treatment
protocols (i.e., one of the current trials involves tailored therapy for lung cancer patients).
 State of the art radiation therapy.
 Physicians from local academic cancer centers who are invited to Norwalk Hospital tumor
boards to provide clinical input to lung cancer cases.
Norwalk Hospital sought The Joint Commission accreditation to enhance its standard of care for
lung cancer patients. "In achieving Joint Commission certification, Norwalk Hospital has
demonstrated its commitment to the highest level of care for its patients with lung cancer," says
Jean Range, M.S., R.N., C.P.H.Q. executive director, Disease-Specific Care Certification, The
Joint Commission. “Certification is a voluntary process and I commend Norwalk Hospital for
successfully undertaking this challenge to elevate its standard of care and instill confidence in the
community it serves.”
"With Joint Commission certification, we are making a significant investment in quality on a dayto-day basis from the top down. Joint Commission accreditation provides us a framework to take
our organization to the next level and helps create a culture of excellence,” says Dr. Eric Mazur,
vice president and chief medical officer, Norwalk Hospital. “Achieving Joint Commission
certification in lung cancer for our organization is a major step toward maintaining excellence and
continually improving the care we provide.”
More than 75% of people diagnosed with lung cancer have advanced disease and their survival
rate is poor, according to Dr. James Bauman, director of Norwalk Hospital's lung cancer
screening program. However, studies have shown that treatment is more effective and the
likelihood of death decreases significantly if lung cancer is detected at an early stage through
screening. However, unlike screenings for early detection of colon and breast cancer
(colonoscopy and mammography) until recently, there has not been an effective tool for
diagnosing early stage lung cancer.
In early 2012, Norwalk Hospital became the first hospital in Connecticut to launch a lung cancerscreening program to help identify lung cancer in its earliest stages. The program was based
upon the findings of the National Lung Screening Trial (NLST) sponsored by the National Cancer
Institute and the New England Journal of Medicine. A year later the American Cancer Society
endorsed this screening program. The study showed a 20 percent reduction in lung cancer
deaths among those who were screened by computed tomography (CT) versus those who had
standard chest x-rays.
For individuals who meet the criteria of the NLST study, Norwalk Hospital offers “low-dose” noncontrast CT -- which produces a three-dimensional image of the lungs -- for early detection of
lung cancer. In addition, a coronary calcium score is calculated from the information available
from this study. This can improve risk assessment for heart disease when added to traditional
risk factors. A personalized smoking cessation program is also offered by Norwalk Hospital to
active smokers who enroll in this screening program at no additional cost. Patients may be
referred by a physician or can be self-referred if they specifically meet the NLST trial guidelines:
age of 55 to 74 years; current or former smokers with a smoking history of 30 pack-years –
calculated by multiplying the average number of packs smoked per day by the number of years a
person smoked. To date, six patients have been diagnosed with early stage (Stage 1) curable
lung cancer through this program. "We have intentionally made this a very low-cost program for
the patient in order to encourage participation as it is the best hope for a cure for lung cancer,"
said Dr. Alan Richman, chairman of the Department of Radiology.
Norwalk Hospital has also taken the lead in the "staging" of lung cancer. In 2010, Norwalk
Hospital became the first (and is still the only) hospital in Connecticut to provide combined
Endobronchial Ultrasound (EBUS) and Endoscopic Ultrasound (EUS) minimally invasive lung
cancer staging (using the Mayo Clinic model). Through an integrative, multidisciplinary approach,
a pulmonologist and a gastroenterologist are able to use advanced technology to sample lymph
nodes throughout the chest cavity (anterior and posterior) to assess the stage of lung cancer for
the most appropriate therapy. "This approach avoids the traditional much more invasive surgical
procedure and the combination of EBUS and EUS enables us to be able to view and sample any
lymph node of concern in the chest," said Dr. Stephen Winter, chief of pulmonary and critical care
medicine at Norwalk Hospital.
Once the diagnosis and stage of lung cancer is determined, specialists from pulmonary medicine,
oncology, radiation therapy, thoracic surgery, pathology and other medical disciplines combine
their knowledge and expertise to advise the best treatment options for each individual.
About The Joint Commission
The Joint Commission’s Disease-Specific Care Certification Program, launched in 2002, is
designed to evaluate clinical programs across the continuum of care. Certification requirements
address three core areas: compliance with consensus-based national standards; effective use of
evidence-based clinical practice guidelines to manage and optimize care; and an organized
approach to performance measurement and improvement activities.
Founded in 1951, The Joint Commission seeks to continuously improve health care for the public,
in collaboration with other stakeholders, by evaluating health care organizations and inspiring
them to excel in providing safe and effective care of the highest quality and value.
About Norwalk Hospital
Norwalk Hospital is a 328-bed, not-for-profit, acute care community teaching hospital that serves
a population of 275,000 in lower Fairfield County, Connecticut. A national leader in health care
quality and patient safety, Norwalk Hospital has received numerous awards for excellence in
patient care, including the Distinguished Hospital Award for Clinical Excellence™ from
Healthgrades® in 2010, 2011 and 2012. This award recognizes Norwalk Hospital for being
among the top five percent of hospitals in the country for clinical performance.
For more information about Norwalk Hospital's Lung Cancer Center of Excellence, please call
203-852-2148 or visit www.norwalkhospital.org.