November 7, 2007
Cancer center in Milford on schedule for January opening
Set in a bucolic New England town, the light-filled, brand-new cancer center at Milford Regional Medical Center (MRMC) looks very different from the buildings in Boston's Longwood Medical Area 35 miles away. Still, when it houses Dana-Farber/Brigham and Women's Cancer Center (DF/BWCC) services beginning in January 2008, the excellence of care and patient- and family-centered spirit will be the same in both locations.
Photos of nearly-completed facility
Thanks to a new partnership between DF/BWCC and MRMC, cancer patients in the Milford, Mass. area, southwest of Boston, can receive their care closer to home in a handsome, two-story building with a glass faade, and an ample parking lot. Diagnostic imaging managed by MRMC and radiation therapy offered by Brigham and Women's Physicians' Association are on the first floor, while Dana-Farber's medical oncology unit is located on the second.
"We've achieved our goal to build upon the existing strengths of our cancer program, create a more comprehensive center that includes radiation therapy, and offer world-class expertise through a relationship with an academic medical center," says Francis M. Saba, president and chief executive officer at MRMC. "Our patients and community are ecstatic."
Dawn Kerivan, practice administrator for the current unit at MRMC, adds that patients are especially happy about the option to receive radiation therapy locally, eliminating a 30-minute drive each way to other facilities.
Healing environment features privacy
The planners for the new 54,000 square-foot center – including clinicians, patients, and administrators from all three organizations, as well as the architect (Steffian Bradley), developer (Murphy & McManus), and contractor (Consigli) – agreed on the importance of a healing environment.
"Cancer is a tough illness, so we wanted to make the building as warm, bright, and comfortable as we could," explains Saba. "When you have a blank canvas you can think carefully about how you want to fill it, and do it well, getting input as you go along."
The architects strove for a design that makes it easy for patients to find their way around, and provide views of the outdoors. A healing garden planned for the front of the building will be visible from many areas inside as well. Across the street from MRMC, a 121-bed hospital, the new cancer center is a "green" building, featuring integrated design, sustainable energy, recyclable or natural materials, and noise control, all of which contribute to its healing properties. Advice from patients and their families on building design, colors, and other features was critical.
For treatment, patients will be able to choose from three types of chemotherapy bays: semiprivate, which have curtains in between but allow for conversations with neighbors; private, with walls between bays and a curtain in front; and super-private, with walls on three sides and a glass wall in front. In addition, there is one isolation room for patients who are very ill or whose immune system is weak. The north and south infusion pods mirror each other in design, with nurses' stations between them.
Within the airy, open layout, various options for privacy are also offered in other patient-care areas. For example, certain check-in desks in the radiation therapy suite accommodate established patients, while others are meant for new patients who often have more questions and paperwork as they get acquainted with the center. Once patients have put on a hospital gown, there is another waiting area, separated by gender, as the planning team requested.
Phlebotomy services with rapid turnaround of lab results will be available on site (managed by MRMC), and a resource room on the second floor is open to the waiting areas, making it easy for patients and their families to go in and out, taking a book or magazine, or brochure back to a comfortable chair.
Looking back and forward
Staff, patients, and members of the community welcome the transition and new facility. Kerivan, who has worked in the current clinic since 1990, says nurses look forward to expanding from seven chemotherapy bays to 22, enjoying light-filled staff rooms, and offering patients the benefit of a dedicated dietitian and social worker, while retaining the friendly atmosphere of the current cozy unit at MRMC.
Cancer care in the Milford area has come a long way since Mona Kaddis, MD, introduced a private oncology practice at MRMC in 1980, working alongside Judy Schmitt, RN. Kaddis and Michael Constantine, MD, who provide care in the current unit, will become Dana-Farber oncologists, and recruitment is under way for a third oncologist. Ciaran McNamee, MD, a thoracic surgeon at Brigham and Women's Hospital, will also see patients in the new center.
Constantine, who will become medical director of the Dana-Farber unit, welcomes the opportunity to offer state-of-the-art care and experimental protocols, while still practicing in the community. "As I walk down the hall, patients express their enthusiasm, and want to be sure I will still be their doctor," he says. "This is the ultimate dream come true."
— Christine Cleary
christine_cleary@dfci.harvard.edu
