Grant Memorial Hospital recently broke ground on a multi-phased project to bring a new oncology infusion center to West Virginia's Potomac Highlands region. Designed by Kahler Slater's Healthcare Team, the 9 patient infusion center will offer state-of-the-art services in an environment affording cancer patients an experience on-par with some of the world’s most respected cancer centers.
“We are pleased to add another service at Grant Memorial Hospital with the addition of cancer care services in our community eliminating the need for patients to travel for this type of specialty care. It is the desire of the Board of Trustees to ensure the families of Grant County and the surrounding areas have easy access to quality healthcare and needed services,” said Tammy Kesner, Chair of the Hospital’s Board of Trustees.
A dedicated entrance will provide separation of the immune-compromised patients undergoing therapy from the general hospital patients and visitors, enabling life-saving cancer care to continue uninterrupted during the COVID-19 pandemic and any pandemic that may follow. A pharmacy will be on-site to prepare medications for patients’ specific needs.
In understanding the community need for these services and considering Grant Memorial Hospital’s current services, the new pharmacy will be constructed in the location of the existing Special Care Unit. This unit, which is currently separated from other inpatient bedrooms, will be integrated into the existing inpatient wing with four new state-of-the-art patient rooms. Relocating the Special Care Unit to the inpatient wing allows for nursing staff and doctors to operate more efficiently and collaborate more easily while improving the patient and family experience.
Nearly 84,000 West Virginians live in the five-county Potomac Highlands region. Patients battling cancer in this region are often burdened with a 90-minute drive down two-lane roads, across rivers, and over mountains to access life-saving chemotherapy services. For some patients, the burden becomes too much and the journey too difficult. They halt their cancer care and hope for the best. Convenient access to cancer care is one reason that cancer mortality in West Virginia is 12% above the national average.
Construction is estimated to be completed in fall 2021. Click here for more information on the project.