Thursday, Oct. 20
October 20, 2011
Behind basin restoration, Maloz leads
October 24, 2011
Before more than a dozen cancer survivors and a large gallery of local residents and dignitaries, Terrebonne General Medical Center cut the ribbon on its $14.8 million cancer center.
Decorated with light colors and fit with patient recommendations, such as chemotherapy chairs that rock back and forth, the Mary Bird Perkins Cancer Center at TGMC is being billed as a state-of-the art center that will provide high-quality care to the Bayou Region.
TGMC President and CEO Phyllis Peoples called the new center “astounding.”
“You will see what we have to offer and why staying here in the community and what we’ll be able to do and how you’ll survive such a diagnosis of cancer is such a wonderful, wonderful thing for us,” Peoples said.
Those who attended were invited to tour the facility, a “serene” setting that aims to put cancer patients’ minds at ease during their most trying times. Perhaps the greatest visual asset is a glass-encased, oversized and colorful butterfly, which symbolizes “rebirth,” Peoples said.
Constructed by the McDonnel Group, the environmentally friendly facility earned a Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design silver certification. Some of the materials used were diverted from landfills and the center includes self-watering systems, Peoples said.
The center offers screening, mammography, education, chemotherapy, radiation therapy, surgery, clinical trials and nurses who guide patients through the treatment process.
“There will be wonderful things that happen in this building, and there will be things we can’t explain,” Mary Bird Perkins President and CEO Todd Stevens said. “But it’s going to be here and it’s going to take on a life of its own that will help many, many people.”
Stevens called attention to the center’s mobile medical clinic, referred to as the “Early Bird,” as another important asset in the “cancer continuum.” The mobile clinic travels around the region, offering a free screening to anyone who wants one.
“It starts with education and it ends with survivorship,” Stevens said. “The cancer continuum is big, and it takes a lot of resources. This building is just a piece of those resources.”
Mary Bird Perkins and TGMC forged a partnership in 2008 to improve cancer care in the region. The completion of the new cancer center is symbolic of a strong partnership, according to Donna Saurage, who chairs the Mary Bird Perkins board of directors.
“I really believe that Mary Bird Perkins at TGMC is creating a legacy,” Saurage said. “It is becoming a center of hope, compassion and innovation.”
Of the many cancer survivors in attendance at the ceremony, one was singled out as an example for what treatment can provide. Raul Doria, medical director of MBP at TGMC, told the story of John Moore, a 75-year-old survivor he treated twice.
Moore was enlisted in the U.S. Army for 23 years, including service as a helicopter pilot during the Vietnam War. In 2004, after having some routine blood work done, Moore was informed he had chronic lymphocytic leukemia. The cancer went into remission in 2006, but Moore was diagnosed three years later with Hodgkin’s lymphoma.
Moore continued to receive treatment, with chemotherapy taking a toll on his body, and in 2010, he once again heard the word cancer patients live for.
“Thanks to the loving and compassionate care of all of our medical staff, including the nurses, John heard the word remission again,” Doria said. “Although, he was not able to walk because of toxicity from chemotherapy, he was wheelchair-bound, the first thing he did was a cruise to the Caribbean, and he never stopped since.”
The audience applauded and Moore stood up for acknowledgment.
“This building is not to be shied away from,” Stevens, MBP’s president, said. “The things that go on in this building every day will save lives and improve lives for all of our friends. Everybody sitting here today knows someone affected by cancer. We’re here to fight it, be open about it and make this disease something that is in the past.”
Terrebonne General Medical Center President and CEO Phyllis Peoples cuts the ribbon on the hospital’s new $14.8 million Mary Bird Perkins Cancer Center. Also pictured are TGMC board members and MBP representatives. MIKE NIXON
