Wednesday, April 22, 2015
A groundbreaking ceremony was held Monday afternoon at Phelps County Regional Medical Center for the new cancer center that will house the Delbert Day Cancer Institute, which will include all of the hospital's cancer research, care and treatment services under one roof.
A groundbreaking ceremony was held Monday afternoon at Phelps County Regional Medical Center for the new cancer center that will house the Delbert Day Cancer Institute, which will include all of the hospital’s cancer research, care and treatment services under one roof.
The four-story, approximate $33 million center will be a culmination of community-wide support, according to hospital officials, when the facility opens its doors in the fall of 2016.
“When completed, the Delbert Day Cancer Institute will be a visual, concrete representation of our community coming together and giving for life,” said Candace Connell, Phelps Regional Health Care Foundation board president.
Connell was one of many speakers who gave remarks at the event for the DDCI facility that will be built on the north side of the PCRMC Medical Office Building.
Jo Ann Brand-Hoertel, the hospital’s board of trustees president, said many people — from the hospital and community — came together to build and create this home for the DDCI, including the medical and radiation oncology departments.
The cancer care center will offer services in radiation, therapy, surgery and chemotherapy and also will have access to clinical trials. In addition to cancer care services, the building will have a café, a chapel, a gift shop, an auditorium and a healing garden, said Brand-Hoertel.
“It doesn’t have a heart. It doesn’t have hopes. It doesn’t have dreams. It’s not alive. It’s just a building,” she said. However because cancer patients will bring their dreams to that building and staff will bring a heart, “this building will come alive,” she said.
Brand-Hoertel introduced her granddaughter, a 16-year-old student now, who was diagnosed with cancer at the age of 3. Brand-Hoertel recalled how her granddaughter and her family made several trips to St. Louis for cancer care.
Once the DDCI center is finished, patients won’t have to travel far for treatments and can have care close to home, she said.
Ted Day, who also serves on the hospital board and is the son of Delbert Day, who the cancer center is named for, echoed Brand-Hoertel’s remarks, adding, “It’s the people ...who will give it a heart.”
Ted Day said the support received for the DDCI shows the community’s true generosity and that they “recognized how important something like this is.”
In fact, a capital campaign reached its goal of raising $7 million for the DDCI before the end of 2014.
Connell thanked members of the DDCI capital campaign committee chaired by Ted Day and Dr. Ed Downey.
Ted Day’s father, Delbert, also spoke at Monday’s ceremony after receiving a standing ovation upon being introduced.
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