SLS 17RS-497 ORIGINAL
2017 Regular Session
SENATE CONCURRENT RESOL UTION NO. 39
BY SENATORS LONG, GATTI, MILKOVICH, PEACOCK AND TARVER AND
REPRESENTATIVES BAGLEY, TERRY BROWN, CARMODY, COX,
GLOVER, JENKINS, MCFARLAND, JIM MORRIS, REYNOLDS
AND SEABAUGH
COMMENDATIONS. Commends James K. Elrod and the Willis-Knighton Health System
on their efforts to become a superior cancer treatment provider and a source for exceptional
healthcare in Northwest Louisiana and beyond.
1 A CONCURRENT RESOL UTION
2 To commend James K. Elrod, the Willis-Knighton Health System and the staff of the system
3 on their efforts to become a superior cancer treatment provider and a source for
4 exceptional healthcare in Northwest Louisiana and beyond.
5 WHEREAS, James Elrod was hired as the hospital administrator for the
6 Willis-Knighton facility in April 1965 and set about making this facility a valuable asset to
7 be used to improve the health of those in Northwest Louisiana; and
8 WHEREAS, when Mr. Elrod arrived at Willis-Knighton he found a struggling
9 sixty-five bed hospital much in need of the energetic leadership that he could provide; and
10 WHEREAS, over the years, Willis-Knighton has expanded the original hospital,
11 developed three satellite hospitals and established a regional physician network comprised
12 of three hundred employed physicians that are all focused on bringing better care and new
13 technologies to the citizens of Northwest Louisiana; and
14 WHEREAS, the network of healthcare providers and facilities operated by
15 Willis-Knighton also include a hospital-owned health maintenance organization and the
16 state's largest retirement community, The Oaks of Louisiana, both of which are focused on
17 providing a continuum of exceptional care to the patients; and
18 WHEREAS, a focus of Willis-Knighton and its satellite facilities has been to
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SLS 17RS-497 ORIGINAL
1 continuously improve the care and outcomes for cancer patients treated by this health system
2 and to offer state-of-the-art care close to home for many in this largely rural area of
3 Louisiana; and
4 WHEREAS, a part of this effort to improve cancer care is the Willis-Knighton
5 Cancer Center which offers the most advanced form of cancer fighting technology in the
6 world, which is known as proton therapy; and
7 WHEREAS, this therapy involves the use of a pencil-width beam of protons to
8 perform Intensity Modulated Proton Therapy, a form of treatment that pinpoints the areas
9 of tumors and radiates them without harming or involving surrounding healthy tissue; and
10 WHEREAS, Willis-Knighton has installed the Proteus One, the first compact
11 intensity modulated proton therapy system, and the advantages for their patients included
12 having world class treatment available near their home towns, while at the same time having
13 access to the most advanced technology, the proton beams, which deliver high doses of
14 radiation to destroy cancer cells, often reducing the recurrence rates for many cancers; and
15 WHEREAS, other advantages of the noninvasive nature of this therapy may reduce
16 the usual side effects of radiation treatment, patients treated with proton therapy may have
17 increased tolerance for chemotherapy, and perhaps most importantly, patients can maintain
18 their current quality of life during and after treatment; and
19 WHEREAS, in its quest to provide twenty-first century care to the entire population
20 in the Arkansas, Louisiana, Texas, known as the Ark-La-Tex area, Willis-Knighton took an
21 approach beyond cancer treatment and established both the John C. McDonald Regional
22 Transport Center, which has joined with the Louisiana Organ Procurement Agency to work
23 toward improving the process of organ donation and the Innovation Center, which sets the
24 hospital apart as the most forward-thinking healthcare provider in the area; and
25 WHEREAS, through the continual advancement of treatments, especially in cancer
26 patients, the outreach of the facility system to serve those beyond the Shreveport-Bossier
27 City area, and the forward looking culture at the Willis-Knighton Health System have
28 brought first class healthcare to the citizens across Northwest Louisiana, improving
29 healthcare outcomes and delivering a better quality of life for those treated through the
30 system.
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SLS 17RS-497 ORIGINAL
1 THEREFORE, BE IT RESOLVED that the Legislature of Louisiana does hereby
2 commend James K. Elrod, the Willis-Knighton Health System, and the staff of the system
3 on their efforts to become a superior cancer treatment provider and a source for exceptional
4 healthcare in Northwest Louisiana and beyond.
5 BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED that a copy of this Resolution be transmitted to
6 James K. Elrod on behalf of the staff of the Willis-Knighton Health System.
The original instrument and the following digest, which constitutes no part
of the legislative instrument, were prepared by Mary Dozier O'Brien.
DIGEST
SCR 39 Original 2017 Regular Session Long
Commends James K. Elrod, the Willis-Knighton Health System, and the staff of the system
on their efforts to become a superior cancer treatment provider and a source for exceptional
healthcare.
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