|
|
||||||||
OHIO STATE OPENS LARGE OUTPATIENT CANCER FACILITY, OFFERING ONE-STOP LOCATION FOR CARE
“This magnificent 385,000-square-foot facility is the second building to open at Carmenton, where we recently observed the opening of the new Pelotonia Research Center just down the road from here,” said James Interim CEO David E. Cohn, MD, MBA, when addressing the audience. He noted that The James Outpatient Care is dedicated entirely to cancer treatment, and that two floors of the five-story Pelotonia Research Center are devoted exclusively to cancer research. “Both state-of-the-art facilities stand as important milestones in our continuing shared journey toward a cancer-free world.” When The James Outpatient Care opens for patients in July, patients in central Ohio and beyond will have expanded access to comprehensive cancer care at a single outpatient location that will contain the OSUCCC – James’ first free-standing cancer outpatient surgery center, a variety of specialty clinics and a clinical trials treatment unit. It also will house the region’s only proton therapy center, which is operated in collaboration with Nationwide Children’s Hospital and will open to patients this fall. “I’m excited to join you today, here in the heart of the new Carmenton innovation district, to celebrate what this beautiful building represents to this community: the expansion of Ohio state’s exceptional cancer program,” John J. Warner, MD, CEO of The Ohio State University Wexner Medical Center and executive vice president at Ohio State, told the audience, which included OSUCCC – James and Wexner Medical Center leaders, members of the Wexner Medical Center and James Foundation boards, and government officials or their representatives.
James Foundation Board Chair Julie Sloat said it was an honor to represent the board “as we usher in this building’s beginning – a building that holds so much promise for cancer patients in our community and beyond. As The James’ footprint expands, so does the opportunity to deliver world-class, research-based cancer care to even more patients. “As a breast cancer survivor, I recognize firsthand the remarkable team of physicians and researchers we have at The James,” Sloat added. “When I was in care at The James, it was my safe place. I used to tease the (care) team and tell them it was my bunker. This organization kept my life on track, and I’ll be forever grateful.” Dr. Cohn said The James Outpatient Care will focus on cancers that affect blood, kidneys, bladder, prostate, and bone and soft tissue (sarcomas) – cancers for which therapies have advanced to the point that outpatient care is a highly effective option. Notably, it will contain the hospital’s eight outpatient operating rooms designed for cancer surgeries that require no more than a short stay of less than one night after surgery, including such procedures as prostate surgery, kidney surgery, hysterectomies and breast lumpectomies. Also within the building are:
“An especially exciting feature of this new building will be our Proton Therapy Center, which will open this fall as the first facility of its kind in the central Ohio region through our strong collaboration with our colleagues at Nationwide Children’s Hospital,” Dr. Cohn said.
Dr. Cohn said the new building also will expand the community’s access “to our hundreds of clinical trials that constantly advance cancer care by offering tomorrow’s treatments today. Nearly 20% of our patients at the OSUCCC – James participate in clinical trials. The new facility contains a clinical trials treatment unit that will enable more patients to enroll in these trials.” In addition, Dr. Cohn said this new location “will enable us to expand our digital pathology program, enabling more and more pathologists and oncologists to view patient images in real time.” Other speakers at the ribbon-cutting ceremony were Eric Singer, MD, professor and director of the Division of Urologic Oncology at Ohio State and a member of the Translational Therapeutics Program at the OSUCCC – James, and Jennifer Woyach, MD, professor in the Division of Hematology at Ohio State and co-leader of the Leukemia Research Program at the OSUCCC – James. Dr. Singer described the GU Clinic housed within the building is a unified hub where patients can have surgery, schedule multidisciplinary office visits, receive treatment, participate in clinical trials and eventually have proton therapy, all at one facility. “Transitioning our patient care to The James Outpatient Care is a pivotal moment for our patients and clinicians,” Dr. Singer said. “Patients who need procedures like robotic prostatectomies, partial nephrectomies and radical nephrectomies, which have traditionally been performed in the inpatient hospital setting, can now undergo these procedures in this state-of-the-art outpatient facility and still have access to all our multidisciplinary treatment team members.”
Dr. Woyach said the interdisciplinary collaboration fostered at this location, particularly in the Hematology Clinic, “will benefit our patients with blood cancers by allowing for more accurate diagnoses, better access to real-time second opinions, readily available consultations with our multidisciplinary experts, and much more.” “And since the outpatient center includes chemotherapy infusion services, diagnostic imaging, radiation therapy and laboratory services, I expect that many of our patients with chronic lymphocytic leukemia (CLL), lymphoma or myeloma will receive the majority, if not all, of their care at this facility,” Dr. Woyach said. “I should note as well that the facility also includes an early-stage clinical trials treatment unit that will serve as a one-stop shop for our patients with blood cancers who are participating in clinical trials.” In addition, she said, the outpatient facility will house a Cancer Aging and Resiliency (CARE) Clinic that works in tandem with the Onco-Geriatrics Program at The James as a special resource “that is very important to the care of our older adults with cancer. Our hematology disease groups heavily utilize the CARE Clinic to assist in the comprehensive evaluation of geriatric conditions that might limit the ability of our older patients to safely receive their therapy, with the goals of modifying risk factors and ensuring our patients are as healthy as they can be while receiving treatment.” Dr. Cohn thanked everyone who attended “this momentous event,” which also involved self-guided tours of parts of the center, entertainment and refreshments. “These are truly exciting times for our cancer program as we continue to broaden our facilities and further the innovative treatments, technologies and expertise that have transformed The James into a destination of choice for patients in central Ohio, in the state, in the region and around the world – people who more and more come to us for help during an amazingly difficult time in their lives,” he said. “I think we can all be proud that The James is a place of perpetual hope.” |
||||||||
|
||||||||
Far more than a formality, 
Noting the large size of the spacious outpatient facility, Warner said it is “a place built for cancer, and it’s really coalescing all the services that patients and families will need along their cancer journey. I’m grateful to all involved in making this project possible. I also want to recognize members of our Wexner Medical Center Board and James Foundation Board who are here today. Your commitment to the cancer program is one of the reasons we were able to build this building, and now we’re able to care for even more cancer patients.”
Proton therapy is an advanced form of radiation therapy that will use protons instead of X-rays to treat cancer for both adult and pediatric patients in one facility that is closer to their homes. It is a highly precise therapy that spares surrounding healthy tissue and results in fewer side effects.
Dr. Singer said patients will have access “to a robust portfolio of clinical trials for all GU malignancies and across all stages of disease.” He also reported that the Department of Urology recently gained a Society of Urology-approved fellowship that will help train the next generation of urologic oncology leaders, surgeon-scientists and clinical trialists (see related story, below). “Our Urology Oncology Fellows will see patients and perform surgery within this new outpatient center,” he said.
