Emergencies & Phone Calls

If you are experiencing a true, life-threatening emergency, call 911. Call our office only after you have made arrangements to get to the Emergency Room.

We encourage you to make routine telephone calls during regular office hours. Our nurses are well qualified to answer many of your medical questions. If you have a complex problem, the doctor will be consulted and your call will be returned as soon as possible. There is always a physician on call after office hours, including weekends and holidays. In the event of an after-hours emergency, call our office and the answering service will promptly alert the physician on call.

Our clinical staff and physicians return calls during business hours as time permits. If the matter is urgent, please tell our phone operator so that a provider or nurse can confer with you in the timeliest manner possible. Please understand that calls for test results and prescription refills will be returned after urgent patient needs are met.

Please indicate in your message:

  • Reason for your call
  • Full name (spelling of your last name)
  • Date of birth
  • Best phone number
  • Name of your oncologist / hematologist

If you have to contact your physician after regular business hours, on weekends or on holidays, please call our office number. The answering service will immediately contact the physician on call.

Please use this guide as to when you should make your phone call:

Call during regular office hours (Monday-Friday) for non-urgent issues including:

  • If you have to schedule or reschedule an appointment
  • If you have questions about your medication, treatment or side effects
  • If you’re having nutrition problems
  • If you need a prescription refilled
    • Please call by 3 p.m. and have your pharmacy’s phone number
    • For narcotics such as MS Contin or Oxycontin, plan to come into the office for a written prescription. By law, your pharmacy must have a written prescription and these prescriptions cannot be called into a pharmacy via phone. No narcotic prescriptions can be written on weekends

Your comfort and concerns are important to us.  If a certain medication is not working, call and let us know. 

Call anytime day or night if:

  • Fever 100.5 F. degrees or greater
  • Uncontrollable nausea or diarrhea
  • Pain medication is not working
  • Chest pains or shortness of breath
  • Severe shaking or chills
  • Bleeding from the nose or gums
  • Blood in the urine
  • Black, tarry bowel movement
  • Severe diarrhea
  • Constipation with intense abdominal cramping
  • Changes in your vision or hearing
  • Increased bruising or pinpoint red or purple spots anywhere on the body
  • Or any new symptom causing you concern

Again, if any of these symptoms escalate to a life-threatening emergency or an urgent medical condition, call 911.  Call our office only after you have made arrangements to get to the Emergency Room.