Photo above: Oncology services currently located in the hospital’s Port Royal-based Keyserling Cancer Center facility are scheduled to move to the main Beaufort Memorial campus next year. Photo provided.
In an effort to both consolidate and expand local oncology services, Beaufort Memorial Hospital has announced plans to move the Keyserling Cancer Center to a new, expanded location on the BMH main campus.
The hospital was considering an expansion and renovation of its existing location at 1680 Ribaut Road; however, construction costs, regulatory concerns and other limiting factors did not support the long-term benefits of an offsite campus.
“When the cancer center was opened in 2006, it was the realization of a vision to provide services in one location for coordinated care and patient convenience,” said BMH President and CEO Russell Baxley. “Over the years we’ve added services and staff on the main campus because the center could not accommodate them. This is a great opportunity to bring the vision back into focus by consolidating all of our providers and services in one location.”
The new center will be located on the first floor of the Beaufort Medical Plaza at 989 Ribaut Road. The hospital opened an outpatient infusion center on the same floor of the plaza in 2015, and plans to expand that area to accommodate additional infusion bays.
The hospital also will work with a development firm to build out space to accommodate a new True Beam linear accelerator to provide radiation therapy treatments, and to house the clinicians who support the service. The new radiation oncology unit will be adjacent to the infusion center.
“I’m very excited about the upcoming changes for our cancer services,” said BMH board-certified medical oncologist Dr. Mark Newberry, whose practice is currently located in the Beaufort Medical Plaza. “Moving the Keyserling Cancer Center onto the campus of the hospital will allow our patients to eventually have a single location where they can receive all of their cancer care.”
Newberry’s practice, as well as that of board certified medical oncologist Dr. Majd Chahin, will be located on the third floor of the building, with convenient outpatient lab and imaging services on the second and first floors, respectively.
The Beaufort Memorial Breast Health Center is also located on the first floor, allowing breast nurse navigators and surgeons to consult with patients and physicians and more seamlessly coordinate care.
“The ability to have the full complement of oncology, breast, imaging, surgical and lab services available under one roof is greater than we ever imagined when we developed the center in 2006,” said Chahin, medical director for Beaufort Memorial Oncology Services, who was instrumental in the development of the Port Royal location. “This also brings us closer to our patients in the hospital and the radiology and pathology experts we consult with daily.”
Once construction begins the project will take approximately one year to complete. The hospital will maintain ownership of the current cancer center building and will locate other services and providers there when on-campus construction is complete.
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