As a clinical manager at Memorial Healthcare System’s Sickle Cell Day Center, Stephanie Dorcius has a front-row seat to the struggles patients have with the genetic blood disorder. “Their tolerance for pain, and our ability to help manage it, determines whether a person can carry on with normal life activities. For acute sickle cell patients, constant pain in their joints requires regular visits to our facility.”
The center, which opened late last year, provides the resources of a day hospital while also offering primary care, hematology, and social services. It’s a medical home for patients whose disease is very often misunderstood. “Many different factors can trigger sickle cell pain and there’s also the mental aspect of coping with these situations,” said Dorcius. “It’s important our patients are supported and not judged, because there’s far more to the stigma of the disease and providing genuine, compassionate care requires all of us to be educated.”
