There was a time, not too long ago, when chemotherapy patients at Baptist Memorial Hospital-Golden Triangle had to endure long waiting lines to receive vital treatment. At 1,500 square feet, the infusion center had only enough room to serve eight patients, and it offered only two private rooms.
But a new, $1 million renovation, relocated to the third floor of the Outpatient Pavilion, now offers not only more space but also a brighter, more aesthetically pleasing interior, said Tom Bailey, director of imaging services and the Cancer Center at Baptist. The new, 5,000-square-foot unit features 23 patient treatment recliners, as well as four private patient areas and four isolation rooms. Large windows and mounted televisions are also new additions.
Patients began receiving treatments in the new location Feb. 25, and Bailey said another popular benefit to the added space is the ability for each patient to bring a friend or family member to their chemotherapy session, which can last from 30 minutes to as long as eight hours. Some treatment plans call for daily infusions, whereas others may be weekly.
“Any time you’re going through cancer therapy, that’s a life-threatening condition,” Bailey said Monday. “People are scared. They want someone they truly trust sitting next to them.”
The infusion center had not been updated since the Cancer Center’s 1998 construction, Bailey said, but patient volume has increased dramatically, with the hospital now treating more than 5,000 chemotherapy patients per year.
“Chemotherapy is not something you want to wait in line to get,” Bailey said.
Regular oncology and radiation patients will continue to be seen at the Baptist Cancer Center, and existing oncology clinic services will move into the infusion center’s previous location on the first floor of the Outpatient Pavilion.
The Starkville clinic, located at 104 Hospital Drive, received eight new recliners where patients sit to receive treatments.
Bailey said no additional renovations are expected at the moment, but there is a bit more good news on the horizon.
The Baptist Cancer Center is now affiliated with the Vanderbilt Cancer Center in Tennessee, giving Baptist’s oncologists access to all of Vanderbilt’s research trials. If patients meet the criteria to participate in a trial, they will be able to do so locally instead of having to travel to larger cancer centers in other cities.
Carmen K. Sisson is the former news editor at The Dispatch.
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