Bon Secours plans two outpatient cancer centers

Bon Secours Hampton Roads Health System is planning to build two multi million-dollar outpatient cancer centers at its campuses in Norfolk and Suffolk.

It would develop an $18.1 million facility at Bon Secours DePaul Medical Center in Norfolk and a $13.7 million building at its Health Center at Harbour View in Suffolk.

Both 30,000 -square-foot centers would focus on radiation treatment. They also would provide additional services for cancer patients, such as space for support group meetings and rooms for talks with financial counselors, said Lynne Zultanky, a company spokeswoman.

Bon Secours has applied to the state health department for permission to move its licenses for certain radiation therapy equipment from its Maryview Medical Center in Portsmouth to these locations.

A public hearing on the requests is scheduled for Tuesday at the Russell Memorial Library in Chesapeake.

Bon Secours decided on the changes after a consultant assessed the health system's cancer services in Hampton Roads last summer, Zultanky said.

The consultant recommended updating equipment, improving access and creating a more patient-friendly environment. The report also suggested developing more programs where teams of caregivers work together to take care of all of a cancer patient's needs.

Parking at Maryview was cited as a problem, Zultanky said.

Bon Secours chose to enhance the Harbour View location because of the growing number of patients in that area. DePaul was selected because of its concentration of neurosurgeons and neurologists and their cancer patients' need for inpatient services.

"Our hope here is to make it as easy as possible to get to," said Leeanne Dalton, administrative director for cancer services at Bon Secours. "We don't anticipate that it's going to be a deterrent for the Portsmouth patients."

Under Bon Secours' proposal, Harbour View would receive Maryview's rights to a linear accelerator with a CT simulator - advanced technology that pinpoints a tumor's size, shape and location in three dimensions.

DePaul would be granted Maryview's license for a linear accelerator capable of stereotactic radiosurgery, in which 3-D computerized imaging precisely targets a narrow X-ray beam and delivers a highly-concentrated dose of radiation.

Between fall 2008 and 2009, Maryview gave more than 5,100 radiation treatments to about 230 patients, Zultanky said. Under the plan, the hospital would continue to offer chemotherapy, as well as surgery and other inpatient services.

Bon Secours is in the early stages of a master plan for the Maryview campus that possibly would include new construction and replacements for medical office buildings, Zultanky said.

Portsmouth City Manager Kenneth Chandler declined to comment on the Maryview plans, saying they weren't coming before the city for review.

After Tuesday's public hearing, staff members from the Virginia Department of Health will make a recommendation on both requests to the state health commissioner.

Amy Jeter, (757) 446-2730, amy.jeter@pilotonline.com