St. Elizabeth Hospital Partners with Mary Bird Perkins Cancer Center
07/31/2007
Citizens of Ascension Parish and surrounding areas will
have more convenient access to outpatient cancer care as St. Elizabeth Hospital
in Gonzales and Mary Bird Perkins Cancer Center (MBPCC) partner to provide
continued excellence in patient care. The partnership will build and operate a
new radiation treatment facility, investing a total of $6 million -
approximately $4 million in leading-edge cancer treatment technology and $2
million in additional construction and renovation.
“Together, we are addressing an important need – local
access to high quality cancer care,” said Dee LeJeune, president and CEO of St.
Elizabeth Hospital. “We are delighted to partner with Mary Bird Perkins to make
it possible for St. Elizabeth and the physician community to provide a broader
range of critical services for cancer patients in the greater Ascension
area.”
The new treatment facility will feature advanced technology, including a
high-energy linear accelerator utilizing image guided radiation therapy (IGRT);
intensity modulated radiation therapy (IMRT); state of the art imaging using
positron emission tomography and computed tomography (PET/CT); sophisticated
treatment planning stations, as well as physics and dosimetry quality assurance
instrumentation and software. The facility will also be supported by
MBPCC’s sixteen member medical physics team. Medical physics is a discipline
vital to the provision of radiation therapy. The partners anticipate that
construction of the facility will begin in fall 2007.
The
radiation oncologists at the new facility will include members of the Southeast
Louisiana Radiation Oncology Group (SLROG) practicing exclusively at Mary Bird
Perkins Cancer Center locations. This group of physicians has over 130 years of
combined experience and, during the next few months, two additional radiation
oncologists will be joining the group for a total of eight SLROG-member
physicians. Mary Bird Perkins and St. Elizabeth Hospital will also continue
to jointly enhance outreach services with a grassroots approach to saving lives
through education and early detection. The organizations have a history of
partnering to provide free educational and cancer screening initiatives. With
the support of local healthcare professionals, it is expected that these efforts
will only grow in the future, ultimately improving the health of the
community-at-large for generations to come.
“It is an honor to have the opportunity to work with St. Elizabeth, community
physicians and residents in the greater Ascension area to support cancer care,”
said Todd Stevens, president and CEO of MPBCC. “Through comprehensive outreach
services and advanced treatment, we look forward to developing together a
dynamic partnership dedicated to fighting cancer.”
MBPCC also has a long and established relationship with Our Lady of the Lake
Regional Medical Center, sister hospital to St. Elizabeth. Since 1992, Our
Lady of the Lake Regional Medical Center (OLOLRMC) and Mary Bird Perkins have
been jointly accredited for its comprehensive cancer program by the American
College of Surgeons. The Cancer Program of Our Lady of the Lake and Mary Bird
Perkins was recently named as one of 14 cancer programs in the country selected
by the National Cancer Institute to participate in its new and innovative
National Cancer Institute Community Cancer Centers Program (NCCCP)
pilot.
