MERRIAM, Kan. — AdventHealth unveiled their new Cancer Institute Thursday. The 71,000-square-foot new building will become home to all its cancer care.
The goal is to improve cancer care through technology and comfort at the new Cancer Institute that’s taking the place of its current cancer center.
They'll have all patients' needs met under one roof. Everything from laboratory services, rehab, infusion and radiation will be done at the new building.
The new treatment bays are private, there’s more space for families and common spaces, including a rooftop they hope brings some light to patients’ treatment.
Erin Reed with AdventHealth Cancer Services says they want patients and their families to feel safe and comfortable here.
“The care was designed to bring all those experts to the patient. One of the most stressful things for cancer care is having to go to multiple locations. It’s complex care. They have lots of different treatments, lots of different doctors they have to see, and we’ll be able to provide that care for the patients here in one building for their convenience so they don’t have to go to multiple locations,” Reed said.
AdventHealth says this under-one-roof type of care is rare. They hope that helps set them apart, along with MRI technology that is new to the Midwest and is only used in a few other places in the country.
“We have a new MRI-guided linear accelerator, which is the only in the Kansas City region and one of the first few in the United States to deliver that technology where it uses MRI technology, blended with radiation treatment, to deliver precision cancer care. It can reduce treatment time from the standard six weeks of radiation down to about five days and it allows us to visualize tumors that we’ve never been able to see before and treat them,” Reed said.
Reed says this new technology will help lessen the treatment side effects and reduce treatment time.
The Cancer Institute was unveiled Thursday, but patients will begin treatment at the new facility on May 13.
