Cancer Care
Cancer Care at Central Maine Healthcare
Despite frequent weather challenges with heat and rain, workers continue to make progress on the Cancer Care Center at CMMC. We are now getting a better look at what the Radiology Oncology unit will look like. Ninety percent of the framing has been completed on the building’s second floor and the transformer pad that will send power to the facility is now in place. The Cancer Care Center is scheduled to open early next spring.
Don’t blink or you may miss big changes at the Cancer Center at CMMC, which is under construction and on schedule to open next spring. While much of the work is now focused on the inside, we are getting a clearer look at what the exterior will look like. This photo shows the Holland Street side of the structure. The Cancer Care Center at CMMC will provide convenient, centralized access to the system’s superior outpatient oncology services, along with state-of-the-art technology, including new linear accelerators critical for radiation therapy. It will also be home to the Central Maine Cancer.
The new Cancer Center at CMMC continues to take shape. The brickwork has been completed on the Holland Street side of the building where the infusion bays will be located. The design includes unique curvature on that side of the building and we can now also see where the large windows will be put into place. On the inside, concrete has now been poured on both floors while work continues on the electrical, ventilation and plumbing systems. The Cancer Center is scheduled to be completed next spring.
Work at the new Cancer Care Center at CMMC continues at a brisk pace and is on schedule for its planned opening next spring. The construction is less visible to the public now that the walls are up, but the accompanying pictures show how much progress is taking place.
Concrete has been poured on the second floor and 90% of the framing is completed there as well. Much of the work now centers on the mechanical, electrical and plumbing systems.
“This is one of the more crucial phases of the project,” said Construction Project Manager Dave Provencher. “All of the work requires great attention to detail, but this is especially true when adding these components to the structure.”
We are also getting a better look at where the linear accelerators will be housed as well as the building’s first named space: the Jeffrey L. Brickman Community Room.
Once it’s open, the Cancer Care Center will provide convenient, centralized access to the health system’s superior outpatient oncology services, including the latest technology.
The Cancer Care Center at Central Maine Medical Center took another major step to becoming a reality on May 7 as the final beam was put into place during a “topping off” ceremony. The event was held on the grounds of what will be the new facility that is expected to open in early 2022. A topping off ceremony is a construction industry tradition to mark the completion of the structure of a building.
Over the past week, Central Maine Healthcare team members, patients and visitors signed the final beam that was hoisted by crane to the top of the building.
During Friday’s ceremony, CMH providers added purple stickers that had been signed by cancer patients.
Among the speakers was patient Christina Zilius, who thanked her CMH doctors and staff. “On behalf of myself and my family, thank you. For not only saving my life and the lives of many others. But for also giving me the chance to see my daughter in her prom dress, to dance with my son at his wedding and to hold my future grandchildren in my arms,” Zilius said.
CMH President and CEO Jeff Brickman said, “It will be a critical resource for our entire region. It will expand access to world class patient-centered care delivered by the talented professionals we’ve recruited – expert, compassionate care supported by the latest technology. It will be the next level of healthcare for our region.”
We speak with David Provencher, the Project Manager for Central Maine Healthcare’s Cancer Care Center, for a quick walk-thru of the construction site.
