Saint Francis to bring enhanced resources to heart and cancer Patients

Construction continues on Saint Francis Medical Center's new Heart Hospital and Cancer Institute, which will allow patients to receive specialized care from a dedicated team of caregivers. Saint Francis broke ground for the building in spring 2008, and completion of the four-story, 208,000-square foot facility is expected in late spring 2011.

"This state-of-the-art facility will be connected to the Medical Center and house the tools and technology needed to fight heart disease and cancer the two most deadly diseases today," said Steven C. Bjelich, FACHE-D, president and chief executive officer of Saint Francis Healthcare System.

Saint Francis took a holistic approach to design, involving both past patients and clinicians. "It has been a collaborative process. The design team was very cognizant of our needs as physicians, as well as those of the patients, as we planned the facility," said Edward M. Bender, MD, FACS, cardiothoracic surgeon on staff at Saint Francis.

The concept for the Heart Hospital the region's first is designed to be a "hospital within a hospital" and will provide several new and enhanced resources for cardiac patients and their families. It will house three cardiac catheterization labs and a dedicated Arrhythmia Center with an electrophysiology lab to address heart rhythm problems. That lab will be unique because Saint Francis is one of the first medical centers in the world to use a sophisticated, specialized imaging system in its electrophysiology lab. The 60-bed hospital all in private rooms will include six ultrasound rooms, 10 cardiothoracic intensive care rooms, 50 acute care rooms, dedicated oncology rooms and several bereavement rooms. Three patient rooms are designed with bariatric patients in mind, and two rooms will accommodate patients with large families.

The new Cancer Institute will also bring together new and expanded treatment and diagnostic resources under one roof. It will have a dedicated, permanent PET/ CT imaging scanner, which is often a mobile and shared resource. The institute will include the Saint Francis Infusion Center, Cape Medical Oncology and Saint Francis Infectious Disease Center. The Saint Francis Infusion Center will include 34 chemotherapy/infusion bays. Sliding privacy-glass doors between 30 of the bays will make it possible for patients to select solitude or conversation with others undergoing treatment. The other four bays will be in private treatment rooms.

Radiation patients will benefit from a new linear accelerator, which will provide image-guided radiation therapy, a cutting edge technology. Patients will also have access to intensity modulated radiation therapy and electronic brachytherapy.

The Heart Hospital and Cancer Institute will provide for patients' spiritual and emotional needs as well. In a dedicated boutique within the Cancer Institute, stylists will help patients with wigs, makeup and other appearance-related issues that often accompany cancer treatment. Plus, both cardiac and cancer patients will have views of either an 8,500-square-foot garden on the second floor rooftop or campus green areas from their rooms and treatment areas. The rooftop garden will feature a gazebo, soothing music and beautiful landscaping, and it will provide a healing respite away from clinical sights and sounds. "Every detail in the new facility has been designed so we can provide total care to our patients in one location," Bjelich said.