Elaine Padilla’s life is too busy for cancer.

Her work as vice president of student affairs at Rockland Community College keeps this former professor of sociology and anthropology hopping.

“My job is very demanding,” Elaine says, who is also a lecturer and world traveler.
Her active social life, which includes two to three weekly trips to the city to museums, lectures and the theater, leaves no time for unwanted interruptions.

But, as many cancer survivors know, cancer waits for no one. So when Elaine was diagnosed with breast cancer — the first time — after a routine mammogram in 1990, she promptly had a lumpectomy, and then radiation and chemotherapy.

Elaine had not been a stranger to the disease. Her mother, who is now 91, is a two-time breast cancer survivor. She lost a son, Michael, to brain cancer, in 1985. After Michael’s death, Elaine became active in her local chapter of the American Cancer Society.

“My son’s life came to an end, and my life with the American Cancer Society began,” Elaine said, who has served the society as both president and vice president.

Then, in 1996, again after a routine mammogram, doctors discovered that she had developed breast cancer.

“I had a long, heart-to-heart talk with Dr. Bloom (Beatrice Bloom, M.D., Good Samaritan Hospital’s Medical Director of Oncology),” says Padilla. “I asked her if I should have a double mastectomy and be done with it. I thought, ‘Why fool around?’”

Dr. Bloom went to work researching Elaine’s options, and came back with a recommendation. As a result, Padilla again underwent a lumpectomy, followed by radiation and chemotherapy.

“Dr. Bloom helped me find appropriate conclusions for me,”she says.

Elaine says the cancer program and staff at Good Samaritan Hospital are very accommodating. “Dr. Bloom and her Good Samaritan staff were respectful of my schedule and the competing demands on my time from my work, home, family and personal life. Appointment times were flexible.”

“The Good Samaritan staff is compassionate, yet professional,” she says. “They make you feel so comfortable. They team with you in the fight to get well.”

“Good Samaritan Hospital is different from any other place. They don’t just get you in and get you out. The care is extremely personalized.”