Article published September 21, 2008
Flower is latest hospital to add to cancer care
ProMedica projects cost $42M
Pam Bauman can look out on the healing garden while she receives chemotherapy in the new treatment area in Flower Hospital in Sylvania. She says the new area looks brighter.
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THE BLADE/AMY E. VOIGT
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By JULIE M. McKINNON
BLADE STAFF WRITER
To help the hours pass while fighting metastasized lung cancer with chemotherapy, Toledoan Pam Bauman can gaze outside large windows into a flower garden, watch whatever she wants on television, or stretch out for a nap.
The Hickman Cancer Center, Flower Hospital's new medical oncology treatment area that's part of a $42 million investment by ProMedica Health System for cancer care, is more private and serene than the hospital's previous space. Curtains can be pulled between each bay for privacy in the treatment area overlooking a so-called
healing garden, where patients can sit during breaks or even for their chemotherapy treatments when the weather is balmy.
'I like it a lot better,' Ms. Bauman, 52, said last week. 'It's so much brighter.'
Flower Hospital is in the final phase of expanding and renovating its cancer treatment center, much of which is in use. Cancer treatment has been offered at the Sylvania hospital for 30 years, and the project more than doubles space primarily devoted to giving chemotherapy and radiation to about 100 patients a day.
'This is a big deal for us,' Barbara Steele, ProMedica's regional president, said.
| OPEN HOUSES SLATED |
Flower Hospital at 5200 Harroun Road, Sylvania is holding separate open houses this month for its Ebeid Hospice Residence and Hickman Cancer Center.
The open house for the 12- bed hospice, which is expected to start accepting patients next month, is from 6:30 p.m. to 8 p.m. Wednesday. The cancer center’s open house is from 6:30 p.m. to 8 p.m. Sept.
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ProMedica and its oncologists also have affiliated with the Barbara Ann Karmanos Center Institute in Detroit, allowing patients to take part in clinical trials while getting treatments at Flower.
Karmanos, a National Cancer Institute-designed comprehensive cancer center, does research in a number of areas.
As part of ProMedica's investment, a 12-bed hospice facility, the Ebeid Hospice Residence, for those in the final stage of cancer and other diseases was built on Flower's campus.
There, all patients have private rooms with porches overlooking a pond, and is expected to open next month.
ProMedica also has renovated its cancer treatment center at Bixby Medical Center in Adrian and is looking to establish one in Perrysburg, mostly likely at its office at Levis Commons, Ms. Steele said. The health system also built a medical office building at Flower as part of the $42 million project.
Construction on the 12,000-square-foot addition to Flower's cancer treatment center began last year. That space now is home to medical oncology, including 17 chemotherapy treatment bays or rooms.
The center's existing 10,000 square feet of space, which had been shared by medical and radiation oncology, now houses just radiation services and is in the final stage of renovation.
The cancer center also will feature private consultation rooms, a gowned waiting area for radiation patients, a survivor-related store, computers for patient use, and a library. The garden has paths dotted with benches, water features, an outdoor fireplace, and plants providing seasonal color.
As baby boomers age and cancer cases increase, oncology treatment is one area where Toledo hospital systems are focusing investments. Earlier this year, Mercy Health Partners opened its outpatient oncology center at St. Anne Mercy Hospital, part of a $14.4 million project to centralize services at three of its northwest Ohio hospitals.
Most outpatient oncology services were moved to St. Anne from St. Vincent Mercy Medical Center as part of the Mercy Cancer Centers project. Outpatient oncology services were upgraded at St. Charles Mercy Hospital and are being added at Mercy Hospital of Tiffin.
Contact Julie M. McKinnon at: jmckinnon@theblade.com or 419-724-6087.
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