ACMH, AHN partner to expand Laube Cancer Center in Kittanning
KITTANNING, Armstrong County — ACMH Hospital has more than doubled the patient treatment space in its Richard G. Laube Cancer Center in an $8 million expansion through a partnership with Allegheny Health Network.
ACMH held an open house for the cancer center and offered free cancer screening on Saturday, March 11, following a ribbon-cutting ceremony Thursday.
The yearlong expansion project included the construction of 10 examination rooms on its renovated basement level and 18 treatment bays and two private treatment rooms on the main floor. Intravenous infusions are administered in the treatment rooms.
Previously, there were three exam rooms and 10 treatment bays all on the main floor.
“It was elbow to elbow,” said Kristin Brison, ACMH medication and radiation oncology manager.
Before the expansion, there were two treatment rooms with five chairs in each, Brison said.
“Privacy was a big thing,” she said.
Some patients become emotional when they receive their first infusions and others fall asleep, she said.
The new treatment bays are in the direct view of nursing stations allowing nurses to monitor patients for reactions to medication, Brison said. The state Department of Health requires direct visual contact, she added.
Reactions such as breathing problems or becoming flushed can occur after only a few drops of medication enters the IV tube or after the medication accumulates in a patient’s system following several infusions, she said.
Infusion times vary from 15 to 30 minutes to 8 hours while some patients receive injections, she said.
Each bay has a window providing an outdoor view and natural light, seats for family members and a television.
“The expanded treatment bays provide comfort,” Brison said.
She sees the value of the expansion project from the patient’s point of view as well as the hospital’s.
“i was also a patient in the cancer center,” Brison said.
She said she was diagnosed with breast cancer in May last year, underwent a double mastectomy in July and received her last treatment in October.
“I’m a manager and, flip the hat, I was a patient,” she said.
Brison said she was glad to be able to receive care at a hospital close to home instead of having to travel to a hospital in Pittsburgh. ACMH is considered a rural hospital, but it follows the same protocols and guidelines that larger, urban hospital follow, she said.
Dana Mikos, director of nursing, said patients were content in the old space, but the expanded facility provides patients with many benefits.
The expansion also reduces wait times and allows patients to be seen by nurse practitioners and physician assistants during appointments with doctors.
“We are thrilled to announce the completion of this much needed transformation of our cancer center,” said John Lewis, ACMH president and CEO. “As more and more people are turning to ACMH as their trusted health care provider and demand for our center’s radiation and oncology services continues to grow, this new facility provides us with the capacity to meet those needs at the highest level for current and future generations.”
The cancer center is staffed by doctors from AHN and ACMH nurses.
ACMH and AHN partner to provide a full spectrum of surgical, medical and radiation oncology services.
