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Cancer Center Opens After Long Process ; York County's New Facility is Up and Running After Six Years of Planning and a Dispute Between Hospitals.

Posted on: Friday, 3 March 2006, 12:00 CST

By ELBERT AULL Staff Writer

Patricia Deisler tweaked a line from an old cigarette advertisement when she spoke about recent progress in the fight against cancer. Deisler, a doctor with the Maine Center for Cancer Medicine, noted that the nationwide death toll from the disease in 2003 showed its first yearly decrease in more than seven decades.

"We've come a long way, baby," she said.

The same could be said of many among the hundreds of people who crammed the lobby of the Cancer Care Center of York County during a ribbon-cutting ceremony Thursday afternoon.

The event marked the end of a nearly six-year planning process marred by bitter competition between two rival groups fighting for state approval to build York County's first radiation therapy center.

Cancer survivors said the center will reduce stress on patients and their families - particularly those who live west of Route 1 - who until recently sought therapy in Scarborough, Portland, New Hampshire or Boston.

"Those are the folks who fall through the cracks," said Arline Fortier of Sanford, a cancer survivor and a member of the center's board of directors.

The $7 million facility processed 50 patients between the time it opened on Monday and Thursday's ceremony, said Executive Director Dolores "Dee" Hopper.

Hospital officials estimate that more than 350 cancer patients will seek radiation therapy at the center each year. There were 1,085 newly diagnosed cancer patients in York County in 2003.

The center is a collaborative effort by three hospitals, including the two medical centers that originally won the right to open the facility over a competing proposal from other hospitals.

Officials at Maine Medical Center in Portland hatched a plan for the facility in 2000, after they noticed increased demand for radiation therapy in the state's southernmost county.

They opened talks with Southern Maine Medical Center in Biddeford, along with York and Goodall hospitals, about collaborating to build the center.

The cooperation ended in December 2001, when Goodall and York hospitals joined with Wentworth-Douglass Hospital in New Hampshire and filed a request with the state for approval to build the facility.

Maine hospitals need approval from the Department of Health and Human Services for projects such as the cancer center.

When York and Goodall split off, what was once a collaborative effort became a competition for state approval - a battle that Maine Med and SMMC won in early 2003 when they were picked for the project.

York and Wentworth-Douglass challenged the decision all the way to the state's highest court.

In the meantime, Goodall and Maine Med officials opened talks about moving the project from Route 109 in Wells to land that Goodall owned a few miles up the road in Sanford.

Goodall joined the Maine Med/SMMC team in August 2004, and after months of wrangling with Wells residents over traffic concerns, the project moved to Goodall-owned land near Sanford's airport.

Hopper said the group has "continued right up until the end to invite York (Hospital) to join us." A spokeswoman for York Hospital didn't return a message seeking comment.

Speakers at Thursday's event mentioned the spat only indirectly, referencing "hurdles" and "obstacles" that had to be overcome to complete the center.

Fortier said the center will conduct trials on new treatments from drug companies and research hospitals, and there are plans to plant a "healing garden" on the Eagle Drive property - a wooded area where cancer patients can relax.

Hopper said the hospitals designed the center with families in mind, saying the building's stone fireplace gives the foyer a "living room" feel.

Typical patients will save about 25 miles of driving per visit to the facility, she said.

That will make a big difference for patients and their families, said Roger Landry, a former state representative from Sanford who was diagnosed with throat cancer in 1990 and 1991.

"It's a family thing. (Cancer) affects everyone around that individual," said Landry, who spoke about the long drives to and from Boston during his battle with cancer.

Staff Writer Elbert Aull can be contacted at 324-4888 or at:

eaull@pressherald.com

Source: Portland Press Herald

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