Ground Broken On Cancer Center In Ocean Pines

Ground Broken On Cancer Center In Ocean Pines
Ground

OCEAN PINES — Peninsula Regional Medical Center, in partnership with Gillis Gilkerson, broke ground Tuesday for its new comprehensive cancer services center, which will be located in a newly constructed second building at the Delmarva Health Pavilion Ocean Pines.

The 20,000-square-foot facility is expected to be complete within 12 to 15 months. The new center will bring Peninsula Regional’s comprehensive cancer services to Worcester County, along with access to the Johns Hopkins Clinical Research Network National Cancer Institute (NCI) and pharmaceutical sponsored studies. Peninsula Regional has participated in clinical trials since the early 1990s, and the research program is consistently growing over time. With the new facility in Ocean Pines, patients will be provided cutting-edge treatment in a local setting.

“Radiation Oncology services in Ocean Pines will provide the latest technology in radiation medicine,” said Dr. John Mansueti, Medical Director of Radiation Oncology. “We will be using the TrueBeam Linear Accelerator, which provides the most advanced image-guided radiotherapy and radiosurgery treatment modalities available.  The TrueBeam system provides extremely precise and accurate therapeutic radiation to the cancer while sparing surrounding normal tissues to excessive radiation doses.”

The TrueBeam system can be used for all forms of advanced external-beam radiotherapy, including image-guided radiotherapy and radiosurgery (IGRT and IGRS), intensity-modulated radiotherapy (IMRT), stereotactic body radiotherapy (SBRT) and RapidArc® radiotherapy.

Peninsula Regional Oncology and Hematology, which has been providing medical oncology and chemotherapy infusion services in Berlin for eight years, will relocate and significantly expand its capacity, allowing at least 12 patients to be comfortably treated at one time in a state-of-the-art center.

The new center will provide Worcester County residents the most complete cancer care ever available in the region, including access to a cancer exercise and pulmonary rehabilitation center, nutritional consultants and a resource center.

“Our multidisciplinary team approach, which brings specialists together to collaborate on and individualize each patient’s care, is a distinctive feature that our patients value. We are committed to providing access to this patient-centered care team,” said Dr. Thomas DeMarco, the Richard A. Henson Cancer Institute’s Medical Director.

“We are glad to bring the experience and complex care of the Richard A. Henson Cancer Institute closer to the homes of our many Worcester County patients,” said Joan Mischtschuk, Executive Director.

Peninsula Regional has been accredited by the American College of Surgeons’ Commission on Cancer since 1970 and offers the widest array of cancer services on Maryland’s Eastern Shore.

“I am excited that Peninsula Regional Medical Center is bringing a comprehensive cancer institute to Worcester County. With the help of a $2 million matching grant from the Richard A. Henson Foundation, we will be able to provide outstanding cancer care close to home,” said Leighton Moore, Chairman of the Peninsula Regional Medical Center Foundation. “I am grateful to the Richard A. Henson Foundation for their generosity, and very proud that the PRMC Foundation is raising funds for two diseases that touch all of us: cancer and mental health.”

The Delmarva Health Pavilion Ocean Pines is located at Route 589 and Cathage Road near the North Gate of the Ocean Pines residential community. Gillis Gilkerson is developing the site and plans additional buildings depending on the needs of the area. The first building in the complex opened in fall 2015, and houses Peninsula Regional Family Medicine Ocean Pines, PRMC’s FamilyLab, PRMC Home Scripts, the Guerrieri Heart & Vascular Institute’s Ocean Pines Adult Fitness program and the Junior Auxiliary Board Pines Café.