Mercy Health Partners is a member of the daVinci® Surgery Awareness Initiative that supports the Lance Armstrong Foundation’s national campaign to educate the community about the importance of early detection and treatment for prostate cancer.

As part of the campaign, MHP is sponsoring a series of free lunch and learn programs on prostate cancer.  Each program will offer free prostate specific antigen (PSA) screenings from 11 to 11:30 am followed by a free luncheon program.  The programs will be held on:

• Thursday, Sept. 17, 2009, in the Sister Elizabeth Assembly Center on the St. Mary’s North campus.  The campus is located just east of I-75 at Emory Road.  Featured speaker at the lunch is Christopher Ramsey, M.D., a board-certified urologist with Urology Consultants of Knoxville, P.C.  Dr. Ramsey will discuss the risks, symptoms and latest treatments for prostate cancer, which is the second leading cause of cancer deaths in American men.  Dr. Ramsey is a pioneer in the Knoxville area in the use of the da Vinci robotic system for performing prostatectomy, the surgical removal of the prostate gland.

 
• Thursday, Sept. 24, 2009 – Sponsored by St. Mary’s Medical Center of Campbell County, this program will be held at Castleton’s Regency Ballroom at 2146 Jacksboro Pike in LaFollette.  Featured speaker for the program is Nilesh Patel, M.D., a board-certified radiation oncologist with Premier Radiation Oncology Services at Mercy Cancer Centers.
• Monday, Sept. 28, 2009, at St. Mary’s Jefferson Memorial Hospital located at 110 Hospital Drive in Jefferson City.  Dr. Patel is the featured speaker at the Jefferson program.
• Thursday, Oct. 1, 2009, in the Judy and Joe Johnson Conference Center at Baptist Hospital West in Turkey Creek.  In addition to Dr. Patel, the BHW program will feature Garrett Lischer, M.D., a board-certified urologist with the Knoxville Urology Clinic, P.C.

From discovery to recovery, MHP facilities across East Tennessee offer a full range of diagnostic and treatment options for prostate diseases.

Lunch and screenings are provided at no cost, but space it limited and reservations are required.  Please call 632-5200 (toll-free at 877-368-7362) at least one day prior to the program to register.  Registration is available on line at www.mercy.com and following the links at Classes and Events.

Mercy Health Partners was formed by the merger of St. Mary’s Health System and Baptist Health System of East Tennessee in 2008.  The new healthcare system operates seven acute-care hospitals and many other healthcare facilities across East Tennessee.  More than 1,000 of the area’s leading physicians are on the active staff at Mercy facilities.  One of East Tennessee’s largest employers, Mercy has 5,700 associates dedicated to providing compassionate care using the latest medical technology.

For physician referral and service information, please call one of Mercy’s referral lines: Ask Mercy at 632-5200 (toll-free at 877-368-7362) or Mercy Wellnesse for Women at 877-599-WELL (9355).  A complete list of Mercy physicians, facilities, services and extensive health information is available online at www.mercy.com. 
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