hshs logo
« Cancer Programs and Services

Pediatric Cancer

This amazing team of subspecialists treat children from the newly born to age 21, who have been diagnosed with cancer and blood disorders.

Young child using stethoscope to listen to teddy bear's heartbeat

Board certified, fellowship trained, pediatric hematologist/oncologists Dr. John Hill and Dr. Catherine Long are located at the HSHS St. Vincent Hospital Cancer Centers and are the only specialized providers of pediatric hematology/oncology services in Northeast Wisconsin.

To ensure these children are provided with the highest level of outpatient and inpatient care, Drs. Hill and Long partner with a highly experienced team of pediatric intensivists, with access to Northeast Wisconsin’s only dedicated pediatric intensive care unit (ICU).

Because of this Pediatric ICU, children with cancer do not have to travel to distant cities for their care, even if they become very ill, in need of a high level, tertiary hospital care.


Shared Expertise

For more than a decade, HSHS St. Vincent Hospital has enjoyed an affiliation with Children’s Hospital of Wisconsin to provide care to pediatric patients at HSHS St. Vincent Hospital. Pediatric Tumor Boards, where cancer cases are reviewed and treatment plans discussed, are shared via videoconferencing between HSHS St. Vincent Hospital and Children’s Hospital of Wisconsin. This essential forum adds to the services already provided to our young oncology patients at St. Vincent.

More About Pediatric Cancer

Child Life is a free service available to all children, teens and young adults at HSHS St. Vincent Hospital. Child Life has specialists who are certified and trained to help children and families cope with health care experiences.

What we do
Using play, education and self-expression, Child Life Specialists promote optimum development. We also provide family and sibling support, as well as, grief services.

Preparation
A Child Life Specialist can prepare your child for medical treatments and procedures using age appropriate explanation and medical dolls and equipment to increase the child's understanding of what they will experience.

Distraction and support
A Child Life Specialist will provide distraction and support during your child’s tests and procedures using toys, deep breathing and visualization.

Play opportunities
Child Life provides many different play opportunities to minimize stress and anxiety of being in the hospital setting and help normalize their experience.
The HSHS Wisconsin Clinical Research Institute is a top national research center, with more than 25 years of experience in conducting clinical trials. More than 700 different clinical trials have been provided to more than 2,500 patients. The ability to conduct research studies opens up new avenues of hope, as they provide our patients with more treatment options.

Research compares the best-known treatment with new treatments, which have a possibility of improving current outcomes. Standard treatments used today are a result of past clinical trials.

In cancer research, clinical trials are designed to answer questions about new ways to:
  • Treat cancer
  • Find and diagnose cancer
  • Prevent cancer
  • Manage symptoms of cancer and/or its treatment
  • Whether or not to take part in a clinical trial is always the patient’s decision. All treatment options should be considered.

One important benefit of participating in a clinical trial is the possibility of being part of a breakthrough discovery in the treatment of cancer. Clinical trials help people who may get cancer in the future. But whether or not to take part in a clinical trial is always the patient's decision. All treatment options should be considered.

Through the HSHS Wisconsin Clinical Research Institute, patients of the St. Vincent Cancer Collaborative have access to 130-140 clinical trials at any given time. Many of these trials are also available at our affiliated locations in the Regional Cancer Collaborative.

To find out more about clinical trials, call the HSHS Wisconsin Clinical Research Institute at 920-433-8889.
Throughout your journey to wellness, you will be meeting with specialists in many different fields working together to provide you with the very best care possible. Coordination of your care occurs between members of this treatment team both individually, or as a group in meetings we call “Tumor Board”. Each week, St. Vincent Hospital Cancer Centers hosts meetings to allow our team to collaboratively develop individualized treatment plans to meet the precious needs of our patients. Surgeons, medical oncologists, radiation oncologists, genetic counselors, radiologists, pathologists, clinical research professionals, nursing and other supportive staff all attend these tumor board meetings. All of these experts are sitting together, reviewing your history, pathology, and imaging studies and discussing the most appropriate treatment course. Between these meetings, this multidisciplinary team continues to work together one on one as needed, to meet the individual needs of their patients, according to a timeframe suitable to you.

You can be assured this team of skilled experts is working closely together to develop the best treatment plan possible to treat your cancer and to give you all treatment options available.