DALLAS – Baylor University Medical Center in Dallas is developing the first dedicated cancer hospital in north Texas, along with a new outpatient cancer center that will be the largest in the state.
The 450,000-square-foot cancer center is scheduled to open in 2011; construction of the hospital will begin in 2010, with completion scheduled for 2013.
“When completed in 2013, it will be our goal to be a nationally and internationally renowned cancer care destination,” said Joel T. Allison, president of the Baylor Health Care System.
The outpatient cancer center and inpatient cancer hospital are a $350 million investment, said Allison. The outpatient center will provide a full range of cancer-related services, including physician offices, radiation, chemotherapy, pain management and complementary medicine, such as massage therapy and support groups.
The inpatient cancer hospital will be built as an expansion of the Baylor Charles A. Sammons Cancer Center at Dallas and feature 120 beds. Baylor University Medical Center at Dallas is a 1,002-bed, not-for-profit academic hospital and serves as the flagship facility for the Baylor Health Care System.
“Baylor Dallas has historically been the leader in cancer care in north Texas, and we feel a great responsibility to offer the best cancer care in the country,” said John B. McWhorter, the hospital’s president and senior vice president at the Baylor Health Care System.
McWhorter said the new cancer center would allow for a more comprehensive personalized medicine program, including areas of research such as targeted therapy, which allows physicians to analyze a patient’s genes and determine what type of treatment will work best for that particular patient.
“These approaches will move the entire field forward, and we’re already applying them in certain kinds of leukemia, lymphoma, breast, lung and colon cancer,” said Marvin Stone, MD, medical oncologist and chief of oncology at Baylor Dallas. “There’s going to be a tremendous increase in our ability to make more accurate diagnoses and target therapy in individual patients. These approaches will be more effective and produce fewer side effects.”
Stone is the director of the Baylor Charles A. Sammons Cancer Center, which he opened in 1976. He said that beyond targeted therapy, the new cancer center would allow clinicians to engage in further cancer research, focusing on breakthroughs that directly affect patients.
According to McWhorter, the new cancer center is designed to transform patients’ experiences from the moment they walk through the door. From patient navigators providing support to a coffee bar with free Wi-Fi access, the center is intended to provide “patient-centered” care.
More complementary medicine programs will be added. Massage, acupuncture, music, art and support groups will all play a role in care provided at the cancer center.
“We’re entering a new era in cancer care,” said Stone. “We’ve made enormous progress during the past 32 years, but now we’re ready to rise to the next level, paralleling the striking advancements we’ve seen in the field."