It was all about healing, family and community as the new Siteman Cancer Center at Northwest HealthCare in Florissant held a public open house on Tuesday, October 23 before it begins seeing patients on Monday, November 4.
Siteman at Northwest Healthcare is owned by Christian Hospital and is located at 1255 Graham Rd., which is six miles west of Christian.
Cancer care for its patients will include the latest technology, access to clinical trials and the convenience for North County residents of receiving treatment close to home. Patients will have a direct link to proton therapy, bone marrow transplants and other highly specialized forms of treatment administered at Siteman’s main location, which is on the campus of Barnes-Jewish Hospital and Washington University School of Medicine.
“It builds on the work we’ve done in this community over the last 17 years,” said Timothy J. Eberlein, M.D., Siteman director and the Spencer T. and Ann W. Olin Distinguished Professor at the School of Medicine. “This is the dawn of a new age, new beginning, world-class care. The physicians here are fabulous. They are handpicked, and we are looking forward to making a difference in this community.”
He said a cancer-free future for our region remains the ultimate goal.
In the invocation, Bishop Courtney A. Jones, senior pastor at the Cathedral Pleasant Grove Baptist Church, offered thanks, blessings and prayers of healing and deliverance to those who will come to the facility. Jones is also on Christian Hospital’s community clergy board. Members of his church’s choir sang selections. Jade Harrel of RareGem Productions emceed the event, and attendees heard firsthand from three patients who are cancer survivors through care at Siteman: Diane Phipps, Kristen Roethemeier and Saylun Brown.
For the past two years, Siteman in North County was housed in a medical building at Christian Hospital while the new facility was constructed.
“Christian Hospital and Siteman Cancer Center have built a strong partnership founded on providing patients the very best care,” said Rick Stevens, who, as president of Christian Hospital also oversees Northwest HealthCare. “We are pleased to continue offering that same level of exceptional care in a completely new facility.”
Siteman is the region’s only National Cancer Institute-designated Comprehensive Cancer Center, a federal recognition of its scientific leadership and cancer research.
Stevens thanked many community partners for this North County milestone and introduced three physicians who will be practicing there. “What motivates me is you,” he said, “and we are doing everything we can to improve the lives in the communities that we serve.”
Medical oncologist Timothy Rearden, M.D., will continue as medical director of Siteman’s North County location. Mackenzie Daly, M.D., a radiation oncologist, will continue as director of radiation oncology. Both are members of the Washington University School of Medicine faculty.
Multidisciplinary care teams at Siteman include radiation oncologists, medical oncologists and surgeons, as well as dietitians, psychologists, nurses and other health-care providers. Siteman also offers more than 400 clinical trials evaluating investigational cancer therapies that are not widely available to the public, except at other Siteman locations. Siteman also has locations in St. Louis, Creve Coeur, St. Charles, South County and in Illinois, where an existing location will move from Swansea to Memorial East Hospital in Shiloh next year.
“We have all of the operational pieces in place to screen, identify patients and put them on appropriate clinical trials and give them the best treatment, including experimental drugs,” Yi Zhang, assistant dean of Clinical Research and director of Clinical Research Oncology at Washington University School of Medicine, told The American. Zhang said the clinical trials include large pharmaceutical companies or emergent biotechnology companies that have more innovative FDA-approved compound drugs that target a patient’s cancer.
Having clinical trials take place in North County is important, Zhang said, to increase diversity in the trial sample.
“We want to get a full representation of the patients that we serve as a cancer center and have equal representations of folks from all walks of life,” Zhang said. “Industry and nationwide, there are more white people participating in clinical trials than African Americans, Hispanics and others.”
The nearly 37,000-square-foot facility was designed to be soothing and inviting. It features a family room with a fireplace, a healing garden, and paintings by noted local artists, including Cbabi Bayoc and Jessica Hitchcock. It also has a community room that will be available for use by citizen groups and nonprofit organizations.
Archimages is the architect of the $26.3 million project. Engineers include David Mason + Associates, Stock & Associates Consulting Engineers and KAI Design and Build. The construction and design project managers are from BJC Healthcare and Tarlton Corp. was the contractor.
Funding for the facility comes from Washington University School of Medicine and from BJC HealthCare, which owns and operates Barnes-Jewish Hospital and Christian Hospital.
