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Breast Cancer Patient
More Soothing Than Her Own Home

(Letter to Barbara Llorente, Administrative Director, Scripps Memorial Hospital Breast Cancer Center, La Jolla, California)

"Wow! I have never felt so comfortable and safe and well-cared for in a medical facility in my life!

Your center is spectacular -- the environment, the people, the resources, the commitment. Your center is an outstanding role model for all health facilities that have the opportunity to create themselves from the ground up.

The colors, the curves, the art, the beautiful and varied representations of women, were all a delight. The cleanliness was perfect.

The overall effect was very calming and very nurturing at a fearful time when I needed it most. This breast cancer stuff is scary! I don't need to have my anxiety magnified by the usual scary, metal, clinical, smelly (ammonia??) mechanically staffed offices.

(As if to acknowledge how many of us are reduced to a cold sweat during the exploratory mammagrams, etc., I thought it was considerate of you to provide anti-perspirant in the dressing room -- just more attention to the right details of the whole experience.)

I hate to admit it -- I feel more relaxed and soothed in your place than in my own home! (Can I come and have tea in the West Waiting Room anytime?)

One last note: As I came out of your spa-like dressing room, I noticed the Scripps Statement of Purpose hanging in a plaque on the wall. For once, a published mission statement and the patient's experience of it matched! Hats off to you and all who made the BCC possible."