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Ed Yeates Reporting
Tractors and cranes are still building the multi-million dollar Intermountain Medical Center in Murray, but one specialty building on that huge campus opened its doors today and will begin seeing patients in two weeks.
The Jon and Karen Huntsman Cancer Center, one of what are called five Centers of Excellence that will make up this 100-acre medical campus, one of the largest in the western United States. This first building will become a specialty center for cancer patients, complimenting the Huntsman Cancer Institute and Hospital at the University of Utah.
It will have a new CAT scanner with a bigger, more comfortable orbit for patients. This little device actually coordinates the scanning with the patient's breathing. Then a Linear Accelerator will turn on and off in sync with that respiration, surgically tracking tumors no matter where they move.
A Gamma Knife surgical system soon to be installed will become only the second of its kind in the country for pinpointing tumors in the head and neck.
Another unique feature, instead of the patient having to go out to seek out a doctor or specialist on one day, they come to this one location and can meet with all of them at the same time.
Dianne Kane, Oncology Nursing Director: "Their cases are discussed in a multidisciplinary tumor conference by a panel of experts. Those experts bring that information to the patients at the clinic."
During ribbon cutting ceremonies this afternoon there were a lot of thanks to those who made this 48-thousand square foot facility a reality. For Jon and Karen Huntsman this is yet another battlefront in their war against cancer.
Jon Huntsman, Founder, Huntsman Cancer Institute: "Someday, somehow, we will end this cursed disease. We have to. We have to."
The rest of IHC's Intermountain Medical Center will open this fall.
