Summa Health System is trying to make the cancer journey more comfortable and convenient for thousands of Akron-area patients.
This week, the health system is unveiling the $28 million Jean B. and Milton N. Cooper Cancer Center on its Akron City Hospital campus.
When it opens to patients on Wednesday, the three-story facility will house nearly all the outpatient care that cancer patients need under one roof, said Dr. R. Douglas Trochelman, Summa's medical director of oncology.
Patients often have been traveling from building to building for doctor's appointments, treatments, tests, counseling and therapies, Trochelman said.
But the new airy, window-lit building decorated in soothing browns and oranges houses all those services together, eliminating the need for multiple appointments, he said.
''It's one-stop shopping,'' he said. ''If you're tired and sick, once more coming back in the car is a lot.''
Summa treats about 1,500 new cancer patients annually, Trochelman said.
The staff talked with those cancer patients throughout the design process to find out what they'd like to see in the new cancer center, Trochelman said.
The new outpatient building will include three radiation oncology treatment areas, which are located on the ground floor near the main entrance at the patients' request, said Linda Breedlove, administrative director for Summa's oncology service line.
The building also has a dedicated, adjacent surface parking lot - another perk cancer patients specifically requested when staff asked for their input, she said.
In addition, Summa opted to add an ambulance entrance and a private, internal elevator because ''patients don't want to be wheeled through a building on a gurney,'' Trochelman said.
The new cancer center includes 28 infusion treatment areas, with 10 that will be used by Summit Oncology Associates. The physician group - which is affiliated with Summa - is relocating its offices from the Professional Center North on the City Hospital campus.
With the new center, patients also will get access to psychologists, physical therapists, occupational therapists and financial counselors who are dedicated to working only with cancer patients, Trochelman said.
If services such as physical and occupational therapy are more convenient to fatigued patients, he said, ''they're more likely to do it.''
Inpatient cancer services still will be housed in the main hospital building.
Summa has a long-term lease agreement with an option to buy the building with Signet Development Ltd. of Akron.
Nationwide, many hospitals are sinking construction money into building or expanding outpatient cancer centers.
Changes in treatment options and patient demands for more convenient care are driving the trend. Most of the care can now be provided on an outpatient basis, compared to long hospital stays decades ago.
This year, about 1.4 million Americans will be diagnosed with cancer, and 565,650 will die of the disease, according to the American Cancer Society.
''We have more cancer than ever before because people are aging, but we're also curing more cases than ever before, so we need a place like this,'' Trochelman said of Summa's new cancer center.
Cancer care is extremely competitive among hospitals in Northeast Ohio. Summa battles not only with crosstown rival Akron General Medical Center for patients, but also with Cleveland health-care giants University Hospitals and the Cleveland Clinic.
UH is continuing construction of a 150-bed cancer hospital on its Cleveland campus.
''We want people to be able to come here for care and not have to go anywhere else,'' Trochelman said.
