UPMC Cancer Center at UPMC Horizon scheduled to break ground June 7
Farrell, PA — UPMC Horizon, in collaboration with UPMC Cancer Centers, will break ground Monday, June 7, on the UPMC Cancer Center at UPMC Horizon, located at UPMC Horizon’s Shenango Valley campus in Farrell. The $6 million project will introduce radiation oncology services to UPMC Horizon.
A groundbreaking ceremony, featuring a presentation on the center’s technology by Dwight E. Heron, MD, vice president of radiation oncology at UPMC Shadyside, will be held at 10 a.m. at the site of the addition.
The 7,135 square-foot center, designed by Image Associates, Inc., of Pittsburgh, will bring the most advanced radiation oncology services available at UPMC Cancer Centers community sites to UPMC Horizon’s service area. The center’s linear accelerator offers gated image-guided intensity modulated radiation therapy (IMRT) with an on-board imager that delivers precise doses of radiation in a shorter amount of time than traditional IMRT. Gating enables the linear accelerator to adjust for changes in the tumor’s position related to respiration, allowing the patient to maintain a normal breathing pattern during treatment.
The new center also will include a patient waiting room with an educational kiosk, private sub-waiting rooms and dressing booths, four examination rooms, physician offices and staff lounges, and a conference room. The center will be accessible by a separate canopied entrance at the front of the hospital with short-term, drop-off parking for patients and an ambulance entrance site to the rear of the building. On the interior, the center will be connected to the main hospital for convenient transport of inpatients.
The expansion will add 3,375 square feet to the front and north side of the Farrell facility. Completion on the project is scheduled for January 2011.
UPMC Horizon currently offers medical oncology services at both its Greenville and Shenango Valley campuses through Edgardo Lob, MD, and Eric Spielvogle, MD, both specializing in oncology and hematology. Patients in Grove City also have access to the latest medical oncology cancer care treatment options through Dr. Lob’s hospital-based practice at Grove City Medical Center.
UPMC Horizon’s affiliation with UPMC Cancer Centers and the University of Pittsburgh Cancer Institute (UPCI) provides local patients access to the clinical and research expertise of a National Cancer Institute (NCI) – designated comprehensive cancer center. The new center will work in tandem with UPCI and the UPMC Cancer Center network of 38 community-based locations in the region to provide the latest advances in cancer prevention, detection, diagnosis and treatment.