First McLaren Port Huron cancer center patient to be treated in July

The first Karmanos Cancer Institute patient at McLaren Port Huron will be treated on July 18.

But there is still work to be done before the hospital can open the center to new patients.

The exterior of the building’s brick façade is finished, but still waiting for the steel siding and window installation to finish the shell of the structure.

Inside, the steel framing is erected and some drywall has already been installed.

The majority of the heating and ventilation has been installed, the electrical has been snaked through and the plumbing is complete.

The ongoing to-do list includes the remainder of the drywall installation, flooring, lighting, and painting. Furniture and medical equipment need to be delivered as well.

And the linear accelerator, a type of radiation treatment technology and the focal point of the project, will be delivered May 15.

“We are in the home stretch here,” said David McEwen, McLaren Port Huron vice president of operations.

The $162 million expansion project broke ground July 27.  The 20,500-square-foot Karmanos Cancer Institute is the first phase. Next up is a new 70-room patient tower with all private rooms.

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The two-story cancer center accounts for $25 million of the cost.

The first floor of the cancer center includes radiation therapy while the second floor will house chemotherapy and other infusion treatments. There will be 14 semi-private infusion bays on the second floor with large windows in each bay overlooking Pine Grove Park and the St. Clair River.

“We spent a lot of time designing the infusion bays,” McEwen said. “We had nurses and infusion techs sitting and working in a mock-up of the design to test the space and setup.”

In June, the construction fence marking off the patient care tower area will go up and the building will be complete within two years.

The 160,000-square-foot, four-story tower will include a new emergency room, intensive care unit, observation unit, four operating rooms and 36 private patient rooms.

Once the patient tower is completed and the new emergency room is open, the Karmanos Cancer Institute will expand into the current emergency room, adding an additional 15,000 square feet and eight additional infusion bays. The Karmanos Cancer Institute expansion will be complete by spring 2019.

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“The third phase of the project is to renovate our existing east tower and convert all of the beds to private beds, meaning that every medical and surgical bed in our hospital will be private,” McEwen said.

Ginger VanNuck, McLaren Port Huron marketing director, said 40 percent of cancer patients leave St. Clair County to receive radiation therapy. In addition, 60 percent of patients leave the county for some sort of cancer care ranging from one appointment to full treatment.

“This allows us an opportunity to provide cancer services under one roof,” VanNuck said. “Rare forms of cancer may need to be treated outside of the area, though.”

McEwen said bringing Karmanos to Port Huron is exciting because of the sheer volume of patients and clinical trials the cancer institute runs.

Lake Huron Medical Center is also in the midst of building a new cancer center as well. Its $5 million expansion also includes the addition of a linear accelerator.

Contact Nicole Hayden at (810) 989-6279 or nhayden@gannett.com. Follow her on Twitter @nicoleandpig.