Cancer Center Opens New Outpatient Space

On Sept. 1, 2008, the Henry Joyce Cancer Clinic moved to the first floor of the Vanderbilt-Ingram Cancer Center, completing a yearlong construction project to double capacity for outpatient cancer care.

Patients and visitors now see a vastly different registration area with staff at six welcome stations helping patients check
in for their appointments. A spacious new waiting area, larger public restrooms and better navigation signage are designed to make visits easier and more comfortable for patients and family members.

The new clinic space also is designed to create less confusion as patients move from initial lab areas to examination rooms. There are sub-waiting rooms next to internal clinics where family members or visitors can wait for patients.

The expanded clinic area offers more than cosmetic enhancements. Treatment rooms feature the same kind of lighting found in operating rooms, to make it easier for medical staff to perform sensitive activities like removal of a central line or for gynecologic procedures like colposcopies of the cervix. There are also procedure rooms available for gastrointestinal cancer experts to do scopes of patients’ digestive tracts.

The newly designed space also includes a laboratory, which should speed the process of getting lab results.

This isn't the last phase of the expansion. Later this spring, the chemotherapy infusion area will move up to the second floor of the Cancer Center, with 45 infusion beds, nearly double the current number of beds.

Fundraising for the project continues, with more than 500 donors contributing to the $10 million campaign.

– by Dagny Stuart