MPMC Opens New Oncology Center & Shows New MRI
12/8/2010
(Article courtesy of the Daily Dispatch, Henderson, NC originally ran on December 8, 2010.)
Maria Parham Medical Center unveiled its new oncology center for the public at an open house Tuesday evening.
Maria Parham has been providing treatment to cancer patients for more than 20 years, but the size of the facility wasn’t large enough to accommodate the number of patients who needed treatment.
The new center is four times the size of the old facility, measuring about 6,000 square feet. It features a 14-patient treatment area, five examination rooms and a large triage room.
“In recent years, we have experienced a greater patient load, and now feel like we can better accommodate our patients and their families in this much bigger facility,” said Leslie Carswell, director of the oncology unit, in a prepared statement.
The new center includes a 67-foot glass wall that provides patients with a view of an outdoor garden that is accessible from the treatment area and is filled with flowers and shrubbery. The treatment area also has two large screen televisions for the patients.
“The new unit offers patients more privacy and it also offers the staff more space to function,” said Bob Singletary,
president and CEO of the hospital. “It will allow us to expand the staff in the oncology unit.”
The facility also includes a Cancer Resource Center, a joint effort of The American Cancer Society and Maria Parham, that will educate patients and families on any particular ailment.
A conference room and a library are also included in the unit. This will provide a suitable meeting place for the local Tumor Board and the staff of the unit. The new unit also includes a large waiting room for patients and their families. The walls of the new oncology center are decorated with art from local artists.
The attendance was high for the open house. Live music was played as visitors were shown around. The crowd was then directed to a ceremony where hospital physicians and management thanked those who helped make the new oncology unit possible.
Also unveiled at the open house was Maria Parham’s new wide-bore MRI machine. This is the only one of its kind in the region. An MRI uses strong magnets and radio waves to produce high quality images of a patient’s organs and tissue. The wide-bore MRI has an opening for the patient that is 15 percent larger than a traditional MRI machine.
A wide-bore MRI machine, because of its larger opening, is capable of obtaining an MRI on larger patients.
“It is a big improvement,” said Joe Melamed, medical director for radiology. “It will allow us to do all new types of imaging including breast imaging,” he added.
Contact the writer at jhuff@hendersondispatch.com.