Our commitment to your cancer care

B. Mark Evers, MD, FACS, is the director of the UK Markey Cancer Center, Kentucky's only NCI-designated cancer center.

Here at the Markey Cancer Center, we remain as committed as ever to your safety and care. As Kentucky’s only NCI-designated cancer center, it is our mission to provide world-class cancer care in a compassionate environment. Our expert team of physicians, nurses and other healthcare providers are here for you. 

A cancer diagnosis is a life-changing event filled with stress and anxiety, and you can rest assured that your treatment and care is of the utmost importance. And in the face of the COVID-19 pandemic, we understand the challenges you and your family face, and we are proactively working to ensure your health and safety. 

Increased precautions for your safety

At Markey, we have a unique population of patients, and to help decrease risks relating to COVID-19, we have implemented changes in policies and procedures allowing us to continue to deliver the same high-quality care in a safe environment. 

Mark Filburn, Markey Operations Director, shares the proactive measures we are taking to ensure patient safety, which include the following:

• Proactive conversations with patients, such as phone screens prior to clinic visits and coordinating care in appropriate areas for those with COVID-19 concerns.
• Ensuring a safe environment with minimized risk, such as visitor restrictions, employee screenings and promotion of social distancing.
• Collaborating with infectious disease leadership, including daily communications on the latest news and safety recommendations for the COVID-19 pandemic.

Open to serve our community

We are open for appointments and treatments and support services. Our surgical, radiation oncology, medical oncology, hematology and clinic teams remain open and are taking the same safety precautions for patients requiring operative intervention. 

“Cancer hasn’t taken a break during the COVID-19 crisis, and our surgical oncology team has not either,” said Dr. Joseph Kim, chief of surgical oncology. “We have continued to remain focused and committed to taking care of our cancer patients from Kentucky and across the U.S. Through careful screening and testing, we have been able to safely evaluate our patients in clinic and perform both smaller and major cancer operations.”  

Telecare appointments available

Although many cancer-related visits must be in person, some visits such as follow-up or survivorship visits can be done via telecare or as a remote visit. If this type of visit works for you and your physician, it could be a convenient way for you to receive care. 

Dr. Fred Ueland, director of Markey’s Clinical Operations and division chief of GYN oncology, implemented telecare visits with regional health partners last year. “Even before COVID-19, Markey was doing telecare visits in GYN Oncology, so we have experience in how it works.”

When appropriate for each patient, our clinics and services are open to telehealth visits. The process is simple. After it is determined that a telehealth visit is appropriate, the clinic will send a private and secure link for the doctor and patient to connect. Together the physicians and patient are able to discuss questions and have a conversation just as if they were in the clinic – all with the same level of expert, compassionate care as an in-person visit.

Markey will continue to expand cancer-related telehealth to better serve our patients throughout Kentucky and beyond. This expansion allows us to support and enhance the mission of the Markey Cancer Center Affiliate Network as well as the enterprise’s telecare goals of expert care and patient safety. 

Appointments Available

For more information or to make an appointment at Markey Cancer Center, visit our website at markey.uky.edu or call us toll-free at 866-340-4488