Cancer Patients Can Receive Top-Notch Care at UCHealth in Southern Colorado 

UC Health

Navigating a cancer diagnosis can seem complex, but the UCHealth Cancer Center-Pueblo offers the most advanced care available in Southern Colorado. Even better, all the services are close to home and conveniently located under one roof in the Pueblo, CO, facility. Top specialists with extensive experience in many areas of the disease — including brain, breast, lung, head and neck, prostate, skin/sarcoma, lymphoma, digestive and gynecologic cancers, and others — provide compassionate and leading-edge treatment options. 

Help for the Journey 

“Patients can get the same level of care and technology that they would receive in a big city, university setting and in their own community,” says Shelley Adams, director of radiation oncology at the center.

“This is important for patients so they can be close to their loved ones while undergoing treatment. I love supporting patients and their families as they go through this journey.” 

The three-story facility has cared for about 1,000 people since opening in October 2022. It sits just west of the main hospital, UCHealth Parkview Medical Center, and employs around 50 staff, including oncologists from all disciplines: surgical, medical and radiation doctors and diagnostic imaging physicians.

Other medical professionals include cancer specialists, nurse navigators, physical therapists, genetic counselors, nurses, nutritionists and office staff — all working together to provide an accurate diagnosis and determine the most optimal treatment. 

The first floor is the home to radiation technology and treatments. Along with other equipment, two state-of-the-art Varian Edge Linear Accelerators are located here. The machines can target different types of tumors with a beam of radiation as precise as less than a millimeter and quicker than other linear accelerators, allowing more people to be treated.

Patients can get their labs and chemotherapy provided by medical oncologists associated with the Rocky Mountain Cancer Centers on the second level. UCHealth Breast Center-Pueblo and the Mary Jane Voelker Cancer Wellness Place, a boutique designed specifically for breast cancer patients, are on the third floor. 

Nurse Navigates the Patient Process 

Andrea Shirley is a Southern Colorado native who has been a nurse for 25 years and a breast cancer nurse navigator for two years at the cancer center. She brings holistic caregiving from the point of diagnosis, through treatment and beyond to her patients.

Her passion, she explains, is to comfort people and bring hope and joy to their lives, regardless of their situation. 

“When someone is diagnosed with cancer, it is like traveling to a foreign place where you are unsure of the language, the culture and geography,” she says.

“My primary function as a nurse navigator is to be a tangible guide through the unfamiliar — available and accessible to answer questions. I may not always know the correct response, but I make every effort to find it.” 

A fierce and compassionate advocate for those who are placed in her care, she smiles when referencing herself as a professional hand-holder. 

“One of my goals is to try and shorten the time from diagnosis to start of treatment. I try to anticipate possible barriers to timely access, which may be financial, psychological or purely logistical,” Shirley says. “I work with the patient to find community resources, facilitate appointment scheduling, and bridge communication gaps between the patient and providers. I tell them to never be afraid to ask questions.” 

One of those resources is the Wellness Place, affectionally known as “Bloom” because it is designed to be a place where hope grows, where women can come and feel beautiful. Shirley was key in establishing the boutique, which sits on the top floor of the cancer center. She worked with the clinic’s practice manager to research and write a grant from the Rawlings Foundation to provide free wigs to cancer patients. 

“A quick trip up the elevator from their oncologist allows them to step into the boutique. There, they can find the items that may help meet their unique needs in a comfortable space that provides for dignity and respect,” Shirley says. 

In addition to the wigs, she also coordinates a team of volunteers who make and provide blankets, pillows, chemo shirts, “knitted knockers” or breast protheses, and unique wood stands that hold patient wigs. Fundraising, grant writing and generous community donations provide these items to patients at no cost. 

Her philosophy, says Shirley, is “kindness always wins,” and the biggest winners are her patients.