WESTMINSTER, Colo. — The sudden closure of a UCHealth clinic stunned patients as they scrambled to find new service providers.
The Integrative Medicine Clinic offered services like acupuncture and massage. Cancer patients who relied on the clinic for pain relief are now unsure of where to go next.
"I'm going to be in pain and there's going to be nothing I can do about it. So, it is a big loss," said Paige Mack, Westminster.
For the past five and a half years, Mack has been fighting stage four metastatic breast cancer. The treatments are draining, both mentally and physically.
It's why Mack's husband Cody Johnston remembers well when she first found UCHealth's Integrative Medicine Clinic.
"Paige went and I remember her coming home and being so excited, like I can get all these awesome natural treatments and all of that good stuff," Johnston said.
"It's crazy, when you're in so much pain it's impressive to see when someone can make you feel better," Mack said. "It's exciting."
For three years, treatments like red light therapy, massage and acupuncture helped her manage her pain, and the staff, she said, were able to access her charts, providing the exact care she needed after treatments.
“They could do like lymphatic drainage and massage, they could do cranial sacral massage which is just a more gentle, relaxation style. With acupuncture, when I was seeing Ban, I would go in and be like he’s a magician, he just fixes my problems, I go in and he will make me feel better before I leave,” Mack said.
"Massage and acupuncture and stuff like that is not a luxury for us. A lot of people think of a massage as like, oh! I'm going to get a massage and it's going to be nice. But it's a necessity," Johnston said.
"It's so that I can walk some days and get out of bed so that I can not be in a level 7 of pain and maybe be in a level 4 of pain," Mack added.
Over the past few months, her appointments began being canceled. Then, a little over a month ago, she said they were notified that UCHealth would be closing the clinic that meant so much, not just to her family but to everyone who went.
"I have some friends that have metastatic breast cancer that go there and when we all found out, we were devastated and quite disgusted at that decision by the hospital to move forward with that without some sort of solution maybe to add an integrative medicine center to the cancer center or something like that," Mack said.
Integrative Medicine Clinic officially closed down Sept. 1. Mack's last session was two weeks ago.
"It was a pretty big deal and I realize that now that it's being taken away from me," she said. "It was done so last minute, they kind of kept all the patients in the dark and then just shut down the schedule so we couldn't even plan ahead for it."
The loss of those services, she said, hits hardest when she remembers the comfort after painful treatments that won't be there.
“I felt heartbroken about it many times. Just heading to treatment on Tuesday, I was on the way there knowing I didn’t have anything booked after the fact this week and next week. I was pretty defeated at that moment, going there was a hard drive knowing I’m going to be in pain and there’s going to be nothing I can do about it. So, it is a big loss,” Mack said.
Both Mack and Johnston said they're frustrated that UCHealth decided to close the clinic they and others relied on, worrying now about what former patients will be able to do to manage their pain.
“Knowing how much of a difference it’s made for Paige, it’s tough to think about how we’ll be doing it less than we probably should be or would like to. But there are going to be so many people out there that are never going to get to do that again,” Johnston said.
For now, they're looking for another facility that will offer these services and cover it with Medicare and trying to stay hopeful.
"It's going to be tough but we'll figure it out," Mack said.
9NEWS reached out to UCHealth about the clinic's closure. They sent us this statement:
Integrative medicine, including massage, acupuncture, and other therapies, is a service that is not provided by most hospitals or medical clinics, and often this is more available and affordable in community clinics. While it was a difficult decision to close our integrative medicine clinic, hospitals and health care clinics across Colorado are being forced to make these kinds of decisions as they face significant increases in expenses due to increased compensation and higher prices on drugs, supplies and services.
SUGGESTED VIDEOS: Latest from 9NEWS