The Riverside Middle Peninsula Cancer Center at Riverside Walter Reed Hospital is in the midst of a significant expansion to benefit oncology patients and their families, along with medical providers and other team members.
The construction project, scheduled for completion early in the second quarter of 2025, will add four new clinical exam rooms – three for Medical Oncology and one for Radiation Oncology – to boost the total number from 8 to 12.
The work also will enlarge the facility’s oncology infusion center from 12 chairs to 16 bays plus one private room. Each bay will have a guest chair for patient support, and the center will offer two new restrooms and two additional nourishment stations with water and ice dispensers and refrigerators stocked with popsicles and other snacks for patients and visitors.
Other upgrades will include:
- A dedicated blood draw room with twice as many chairs
- Upgraded changing rooms near the linear accelerator (LINAC) and CT simulator (CTSim) for patient privacy and convenience
- A larger and improved laboratory
- A renovated waiting area
- Bigger break areas and additional office space for team members
“Oncology patients are not only aging like the general population but often surviving diseases that they would not have in the past,” says Linda McKee, Associate Vice President-Oncology for the Riverside Cancer Care Network. “As cancer treatments continue to improve and patients live longer lives, we are excited to be taking these important steps to best serve them.”
Phase 1 of the project, completed between January and April of this year, tackled the renovation of changing rooms, installation of electrical panels and creation of a new room to prepare certain patients for external beam radiation treatments.
The ongoing Phase 2, set to continue through September, is focused on Radiation Oncology exam rooms and support team member areas. Those new spaces then will be used as temporary space for Radiation Oncology and Medical Oncology, Infusion and Staff Support during Phase 3, which is projected to wrap up in early 2025.
“It has been so exciting to see this project taking shape,” McKee relates. “We know the changes we are making will have a positive impact on our patients, our team members and our entire community well into the future.”