Miss USA 2009 Visits Nevada Cancer Institute
Miss USA 2009 Kristen Dalton visited Nevada Cancer Institute (NVCI) today to learn more about the cancer treatment and research conducted at the state-of-the-art flagship facility. Cancer research, particularly breast and cervical, is one of Dalton’s main platforms through her reign as Miss USA.
(Pictured above: Miss USA is welcomed to NVCI by Director and CEO Dr. John C. Ruckdeschel.)
Dr. Karen Milligan and Miss USA discussing treatment in an NVCI exam room.
During her visit, Dalton toured the facilities with Dr. Karen Milligan, assistant member, Breast Cancer Oncology Division, and director of The Survivorship Clinic at NVCI. She visited the NVCI library, boutique, meditation and exercise rooms, exam rooms and the infusion suite. In the infusion suite, Dalton met with patients undergoing chemotherapy and discussed their journey to recovery while posing for photos and offering her support.
Dalton took great interest in The Survivorship Clinic at NVCI, which is the first clinic of its kind in Nevada. It focuses on quality of life issues such as the coordination of care, patient-provider communication, palliative care, pain management, and healthy and active lifestyles following a cancer diagnosis.
An interesting note – as Miss USA toured with Dr. Karen Milligan, they began to chat and discovered they are from the very same town in North Carolina! Both women call Wilmington, NC, their original hometown (population 75,838 in the 2000 census), and both attended college at Eastern Carolina University.
Miss USA with Dr. Sheri Holmen.
Dalton then toured Dr. Sheri Holmen’s research laboratory, learning the important role that research plays in the fight against cancer. With NVCI being both a research and treatment facility, Holmen demonstrated the link between developing drugs that can then be quickly used as treatments by the Institute’s physicians.
Dr. Karen Milligan, Miss USA, and Lori Goodwine (NVCI Chief Experience Officer) touring the facility.
Dalton first visited NVCI in April as one of nine contestants for the Miss USA crown for the Bottles of Hope patient support activity. Patients, their families and supporters spent time with several Miss USA contestants creating polymer-covered chemo bottles that held an inspirational message for newly diagnosed patients.
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