Delta Oasis Program to Discharge Home Among Rural Outpatient Mastectomy Patients

The Saint John’s Breast Health Program partnered with Delta Hotels by Marriott in Saint John to create the “Delta Oasis” program that offers rural outpatient breast surgery patients and their families’ free accommodations and extramural care. The present study used a mixed-methods approach to investigate patients’ experiences with this program. We found that the program yielded positive benefits for patients, including reduced stress and discomfort associated with travel, and for the Delta Hotels, such as increased customer loyalty and word-of-mouth advertising (i.e., incentives to continue offering the program). Furthermore, there are significant financial implications associated with the Delta Oasis program that could yield health system savings; hotel accommodations are five times less costly than traditional hospital stays for breast surgery perioperative care.