Covenant News

Emanuel Medical to Develop New Cancer Center

TURLOCK, CA (June 7, 2005) - December promises to be an especially busy month at Emanuel Medical Center as a new emergency center is slated to open and construction is to begin on a new cancer center.

The projects are the latest in a series of expansions over the last several years, says CEO John Sigsbury. In recent years, Emanuel has added a $3.5 million birthing center and expanded its diagnostic center, which includes the Central Valley's only open Magnetic Resonance Imaging (MRI) system at a cost of $1.2 million. The open system eliminates the claustrophobic feeling many patients experience in the more traditional enclosed systems, Sigsbury notes.

Sigsbury says the medical center has been "woefully inadequate" to accommodate the 55,000 visitors each year to its current emergency center. The new center will be located on the first floor of a three-story expansion and will feature 34 beds and the latest equipment and technology, he adds. The current emergency center will continue to be used after it is renovated and furnished with upgraded equipment.

The other two floors of the Northwest Patient Tower will house critical care, telemetry and medical/surgical rooms, according to Sigsbury. The project is expected to cost $30 million and will be financed with proceeds of a bond issuance.

Sigsbury says the addition of the free-standing cancer center is important to the region. Chemotherapy has been offered on an inpatient basis, but residents have had to travel outside the community to receive the treatment and radiation oncology services as outpatients.

The hospital is collaborating with the Stanford Cancer Center on the 45,000-square-foot project. Stanford will recruit radiation oncologists and physicists for the facility. There will also be medical office space available for surgeries. The center could be completed as early as next spring.

The hospital board also is beginning to evaluate new construction for administrative offices because several buildings will not meet the strictest of California's newest building standards. The standards were implemented to better ensure buildings can withstand earthquakes.

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