ANDRE TEAGUE/BRISTOL HERALD COURIER - Robin North, left, and her sister Renee Kennedy unveil artwork Tuesday at BRMC to announce the creation of the Leonard Family Comprehensive Breast Center.
BRISTOL, Tenn. --
A new $1.5 million facility at Bristol Regional Medical Center will provide centralized, comprehensive care for breast cancer patients.
Work is expected to begin soon on the Leonard Family Comprehensive Breast Center, which should open in April 2013 adjacent to the hospital?s west entrance. It will be named for local philanthropists Frank and Jackie Leonard and the Leonard Family Foundation, who provided a $1 million gift.
Wellmont Health System officials and members of the Leonard family unveiled plans for the facility during a Tuesday morning news conference.
?The comprehensive breast center is going to give us the opportunity to bring multiple services under one roof, to serve women and make sure they have a better chance in their fight against breast cancer,? said Sue Lindenbusch, vice president of the Wellmont Cancer Institute. ?Within the breast center we will have screening capability, diagnostic services, lymphedema [obstructed lymph system disease] services, our breast [cancer] navigator, our radiologists and adjacent to the breast center we will have an office for our medical oncologist ? largely Dr. Sue Prill.?
The new, one-story 5,061-square-foot center will be built adjacent to the general surgery services on the second floor.
The breast center has been a longtime vision for Prill, who has primarily treated breast cancer patients during her 15 years working in the Twin City.
?This is about the women ? and the few men ? who have been diagnosed and who will be diagnosed in the future,? Prill said. ?The earlier we find it [disease], the less we have to do and the better I like it. I would love to be a greeter at Walmart and not have to do any of this but ? in the mean time ? we want to get people taken care of quickly and efficiently. There is nothing more efficient than everybody being in the same place.?
The Bristol Regional Medical Center treated 152 cases of breast cancer in 2011 and the regional impact is much greater, Prill said.
The center will be designed to shorten the times between diagnosis, consultation and treatment to try to improve outcomes, Prill said.
?The diagnosis of cancer is bad enough but waiting is the worst part,? Prill said. ?Waiting to know what is supposed to happen; waiting to deal with it; waiting to know what?s next.?
The center will include patient exam rooms, waiting rooms, offices, a conference room, a library, a resource center and space for American Cancer Society programs, said Todd Norris, Wellmont?s senior vice president of system advancement.
?It?s a big project and anytime we do anything in the hospital there are lots of moving parts associated with it. We?ll be moving a lot of resources from different parts of the hospital to the new center, including all of our radiology equipment associated with breast care,? Norris said. ?That means our mammography program and the treating and diagnostic parts that currently reside in other places in the hospital will move to the new center.?
A portion of the hospital parking lot will be designated for the new center, Norris said.
Health system officials praised the Leonard family, who four years ago provided funding for the Jackie Leonard Infusion Center to provide chemotherapy for cancer patients.
?In our region, the Bristol community has led the charge for our region through the investments that have been made here at Bristol Regional Medical Center,? Norris said. ?We?re grateful to Frank and Jackie Leonard and the Leonard family foundation for yet another wonderful investment in our community that will transform health care and make an impact on the lives of the people we serve.?
Robin North, one of the couple?s daughters, said the center will be a blessing for those who will be treated there.
?I am just amazed at what Bristol Regional Medical Center, the Wellmont Foundation and my beloved parents ? have done for this community. This truly is a blessing for this community,? North said. ?Our dad has been blessed with great success. To see the generosity, this is a beautiful legacy that we all will benefit from.?
dmcgee@bristolnews.com
(276) 645-2532
Source: http://www2.tricities.com/news/2012/oct/03/wellmont-build-breast-cancer-center-ar-2253163/
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