New Cancer Center Opens in Washington
EDMONDS, Wash. — Swedish Health Services opened a new outpatient cancer center April 1 at its Edmonds campus. The new two-story, 17,102-square-foot facility was built in response to the growing needs of cancer-care services for people living in the south Snohomish and north King County areas. The center now provides enough space to care for an estimated 175 patients each day.
“The number of people turning to Swedish/Edmonds for their cancer treatment has grown over the last decade,” said Richard McGee, M.D., one of five Swedish Cancer Institute medical oncologists who practice at the new center, in a statement. “This new facility will allow us to offer enhanced care to a growing population.”
The modular building was developed using 29 factory-built units that were erected over the site in just two days in December. Aventura, Fla.-based RAD Technology Medical Systems, a specialty modular health care contractor, collaborated with the Seattle office of design architects Perkins + Will to develop the facility. Skanska USA, headquartered in Queens, N.Y., worked on the site development.
“Modular provides two key benefits. The client benefitted from early design coordination and prefabrication, which took time off the schedule and allowed for a quicker delivery of the building. Additionally, prefabrication also means work on modules happens with less hazard exposure to workers, helping increase job site safety,” said Pete Maslenikov, project manager at Skanska.
The Swedish Cancer Institute was created in 1932 and has a history in the area of bringing high-quality treatments, services and expertise to people affected by cancer. The new center is the latest addition to the institute’s network of community-based cancer centers. It offers comprehensive medical oncology services to patients through an infusion unit, laboratory, pharmacy and access to Swedish’s electronic medical record system. Known as a hospital-based department, patients also get access to social services, support groups, American Cancer Society navigation and resources, financial counseling, cancer-specific patient education classes and a resource wall.
“This project is exciting for numerous reasons. One of those is that later this year, Swedish will enhance cancer-care services at the Edmonds campus by starting construction on a vault to house a new $4.95 million linear accelerator for radiation therapy that will go into use in late 2013,” said David Jaffe, chief executive of Swedish/Edmonds. “Another huge advantage of the new center is that it will bring state-of-the-art cancer care closer to home, which makes a real difference for patients and their families.”
Because Swedish is a nonprofit health care provider, it asked for support from the community to help fund the $10.9 million cancer center. Several community and business leaders coordinated efforts and raised $220,000 for the project. Efforts like this will continue to play a key role in helping local patients get quality cancer care, including the latest technologies and a variety of support services.
RAD Technology Medical Systems and Perkins & Will also developed a new cancer center at Swedish Health Services’ Ballard Hospital facility, which was completed in January 2011. In less than 60 days from arriving on site, the center was erected, equipment was installed and commissioned, and the center was considered clinical. It features a TomoTherapy Hi-art radiation treatment system, which is the first of its kind for the Seattle metropolitan area. The project earned LEED certification.