Home-field health care

The news that Secretary of State Barbara Cegavske has a disease that will afflict more than 230,000 women this year — and kill more than 40,000 of them — is awful. The news that she isn't leaving the state for breast cancer treatment is uplifting.

As reported Saturday by Review-Journal columnist Jane Ann Morrison, Mrs. Cegavske had a lumpectomy Sept. 8. Thankfully, the cancer had not spread to her lymph nodes. This week, she began a five-day radiation regimen at Comprehensive Cancer Centers in Las Vegas.

"I never once thought about leaving Nevada for treatment," she said. "I've worked with doctors here for 18 years in the Legislature. I have faith in them."

For decades, Nevada's power brokers joked that you went to McCarran International Airport for great health care. It was an indictment of the state's health care system, and the elite lived by the punch line, traveling to California and other places for specialized care.

Now Nevada has some of its own centers of health care excellence that attract patients from other states. Dr. Josette Spotts, Mrs. Cegavske's surgeon, told Ms. Morrison she encourages patients to seek a second opinion out of state, and that those patients are returning to Nevada for cancer treatments more often. Health care in Nevada is improving.

Mrs. Cegavske's decision to make her cancer and her treatment plan public keeps with her commitment to public service. We wish her the best in her recovery.