Bon Secours’ plan would shift radiation treatment to Suffolk

Today, Bon Secours Hampton Roads Health System will hold a groundbreaking ceremony for a pair of new radiation machines to treat cancer at Maryview Medical Center in Portsmouth.

On Friday, Bon Secours leaders will make a case for relocating those very machines to Harbour View Health Center in Suffolk.

The move, if approved, would help Bon Secours build a comprehensive cancer center at Harbour View, complete with medical specialist offices, support groups and infusion services, health system leaders say. The facility is located within sprawling Western Tidewater, where people die of cancer at the third-highest rate in the state.

However, the change also would mean the end of cancer radiation treatment in Portsmouth, where the mortality rate is even higher.

The state health commissioner already has rejected Bon Secours' plan once, saying it would move care away from the city that uses Maryview's service most.

The health system maintains that Harbour View is more central to its patient base of Chesapeake, Portsmouth, Suffolk and the rest of Western Tidewater, and that the area closer to Harbour View is growing faster. For several more minutes of driving, Portsmouth residents will benefit from a menu of cancer therapy, support and education services under one roof, officials say.

"We feel that it's better for all of the patients in the Maryview service area to have this newer, more comprehensive cancer center where they can have all of the services," said Leeanne Dalton, administrative director of oncology services for Bon Secours Hampton Roads.

Bon Secours will spend $8 million for a linear accelerator and a computerized tomography simulator and place them at Maryview. The health system would spend another $9 million or so to equip the proposed 31,500-square-foot Harbour View cancer center. There, the machines would yield $2.3 million to $2.6 million in profits each of the first two years, according to estimates.

Both Portsmouth and Western Tidewater need more help for cancer patients.

Between 2004 and 2008, people in those areas died of cancer at rates of 228 and 219 per 100,000 population at-risk, according to the Virginia Department of Health. The state's number was 182. Mortality rates for breast, colorectal and prostate cancers were particularly high in Portsmouth and Western Tidewater.

Maryview's radiation therapy program historically has served more patients from Portsmouth than any other city, but that number dropped from 67 percent to 49 percent the past few years, according to Bon Secours.

Ilona Webb-Bruner believes people in both areas could use extra care, but Western Tidewater - including Suffolk, Franklin and Southampton County - needs it more. She's executive director of the Tidewater Affiliate of Susan G. Komen for the Cure, and her group recently released a study on breast cancer in its service area.

The group found that Western Tidewater women were "less likely to receive routine screening and more likely to be diagnosed at later stages of breast cancer and die from the disease than other communities in the Tidewater Affiliate service area."

By contrast, programs in Portsmouth churches have helped increase awareness and transport patients to treatment, Webb-Bruner said: "The need is greater in the Harbour View area than it is in Portsmouth."

However, in recommending denial of Bon Secours' first plan for a move, state health department staff members worried about the lack of public transportation to Harbour View. The outpatient center is a little over six miles from Maryview.

About 60 percent of cancer cases require radiation therapy. Treatments can be short - 15 to 20 minutes - but they can be required daily for weeks. Over time, patients can feel progressively worse.

That means even those with cars are sometimes reluctant to drive themselves to therapy sessions, said Susan Lawler, patient and volunteer coordinator for Lee's Friends.

The Norfolk-based nonprofit provides free transportation for cancer patients in South Hampton Roads, but doesn't serve Suffolk. "It would certainly rule us out as a resource if they're going to Harbour View," Lawler said.

However, American Cancer Society volunteers also drive patients to and from treatments free of charge. In its recent application, Bon Secours promised to offer a service, as well.

"We pride ourselves on, if a patient is not able to get to us, that we will make transportation arrangements to get them," Dalton said.

One organization maintains that a radiation therapy service isn't needed at Harbour View.

In a letter to the Virginia Health Department, Sentara Healthcare officials wrote that Northern Suffolk residents already were served by four programs, including those at Sentara Obici Hospital in Suffolk and Sentara CarePlex Hospital in Hampton. Both hospitals are able to accommodate additional patients, according to Sentara.

But Bon Secours leaders said the increasing incidence of cancer, high mortality rates, and the growing, aging population will increase the need for such treatment.

"As we're seeing the incidence of cancer go up and the mortality of cancer go up, we felt compelled to say we've got to try to do something about it," Dalton said.

Robert Anderson recently completed a round of 15 radiation treatments for lung cancer at Maryview. The 78-year-old Portsmouth resident can drive and lives just five minutes from the hospital. He requested help from Lee's Friends because he often felt dizzy after sessions.

Anderson said he'd favor moving radiation treatment to Harbour View as long as transportation was available and the facility was an improvement.

"If you can go another mile and get a better service," he said, "then why not?"

After Friday's public hearing, Virginia Department of Health staff will make a recommendation on Bon Secours' application on Sept. 19. The state health commissioner's decision is currently scheduled for early October.

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