New Comprehensive Cancer Center Now Open
Miami Valley Hospital South celebrated the Ribbon Cutting of its new Comprehensive Cancer Center on January 19. The $20 million center is designed to offers all the components of advanced cancer care in one convenient location.
Hospital officials call the five-story, 93,000 square-foot building a “hub for cancer care” and the only one of its kind in the Dayton region. “Up until now, patients had to go to multiple locations for care, even out of town, for physician appointments, imaging, radiation and sometimes chemotherapy,” explained Elizabeth Koelker, administrative director of oncology for MVH and MVHS. “Attempting to navigate such a fragmented system often adds unnecessary stress for patients dealing with cancer.”
Inside, patients and visitors will find a serene environment that promotes healing; highly trained clinical specialists and staff; and the latest cancer fighting tools, including the new TrueBeam linear accelerator. TrueBeam, the only technology of its type in the Dayton area, provides pinpoint precision radiation treatments. The TrueBeam is capable of delivering radiation to a tumor at a faster dose rate than most conventional linear accelerators. This translates into shorter treatment times for patients. The time for a typical radiation treatment could be cut in half with the TrueBeam. Other special features improve the accuracy of treatment so the overall duration of a course of treatment may also be shortened from several weeks to just a few days.
The center also offers a variety of support services to help patients prevent or cope with a cancer diagnosis, including a resource library and a Wellness Center scheduled to open this spring. The Wellness Center will house exercise equipment for patients to use under the guidance of an exercise physiologist.
Partners in the cancer center include Dayton Physicians Network, a multidisciplinary group of 36 oncology, hematology and urology physicians. Others include specialists with Wright State Physicians, the Liver Cancer Center of Ohio, CompuNet Clinical Laboratories, LLC, and MVH’s Gynecologic Oncology Center, formerly located at MVH’s downtown Dayton campus.
Miami Valley Hospital South began as an outpatient facility and full-service emergency department in October 2007 serving the communities of south Dayton and Greene County.
Since then it has grown to include 48 inpatient beds for medical surgical and spine and joint care. A 16-bed maternity center opened last August.
Miami Valley Hospital South is located off I-675 at the corner of Wilmington Pike and Clyo Road.