Cancer center set to open Oct. 1 in Lake Saint Louis
SSM auxiliary donates $25,000 for building
That help came in the form of a $25,150 donation from the SSM Friends of St. Joseph Auxiliary. Members of the organization presented St. Joseph Hospital West President Pat Komoroski with the check during their annual Spring Fling on May 8.
The money will help pay for a Women's Imaging and Breast Center, a cancer information center and a community education room for support groups and classes.Komoroski said the hospital is thankful for the support.
"This money will help cancer patients in our community by providing them with valuable diagnostic and educational resources close to home," she said.
The center will be SSM Health Care's third H.W. Koenig Cancer Center, and will be operated by SSM St. Joseph Hospital West, Saint Louis University Hospital and Missouri Cancer Care, P.C., a private physicians group located in Wentzville. The $9 million, 50,000-square-foot building is expected to open Oct. 1 to residents of western St. Charles County and Warren and Lincoln counties.
Inside, patients will be able to make one-on-one appointments with a nurse to learn about specific cancers, attend health screenings and join support groups, to name a few. Missouri Cancer Care physicians plan to relocate their offices to the facility to provide chemotherapy and radiation therapy, and SLU Hospital will provide and operate a CyberKnife Stereotactic Radiosurgery System. This system - one of only 20 in the nation - is designed and used to treat tumors anywhere in the body with extreme, pinpointed accuracy.
But what really sets the cancer center apart is its healing environment and lakefront view, hospital officials have said. It will feature a wall of windows overlooking Lake Saint Louis, and outdoor relaxation areas for patients and families to meditate and pray.
Plans for those areas, which are to include a healing garden and serenity garden, were approved Monday by the Lake Saint Louis Board of Aldermen. While the serenity garden will be a 2,700-foot patio area near the cancer center, the 900-foot healing garden will be in a wooded area that overlooks the lake on the southwest side of the hospital's campus. The first of three phases will include a statue, commemorative bricks and a variety of trees. Both areas will be connected by a walking trail, and will be able to connect to any future trail systems developed by the city.
The phases of the healing garden will expand as the hospital receives adequate funding, said Deena Fischer, St. Joseph Hospital West director of public relations and marketing. Aside from a slight rain delay, all other plans are moving according to schedule, she said.
