Editorial-Center will save lives
Uvalde Leader News-A ceremony Wednesday morning will mark the grand opening of the Kate Marmion Regional Cancer Medical Center, a facility that is destined to enhance the lives of cancer patients from throughout Southwest Texas.
A ceremony Wednesday morning will mark the grand opening of the Kate Marmion Regional Cancer Medical Center, a facility that is destined to enhance the lives of cancer patients from throughout Southwest Texas.
Up until now, people in need of radiation therapy had to travel to San Antonio, Houston or elsewhere, an experience that proved time consuming, expensive and often more painful due to the travel time.
At the Kate Marmion Center, area residents will find a state of the art Clinac Medical Linear Accelerator operated by Dr. David Jones. Jones runs similar cancer treatment practices in San Marcos, Kerrville and New Braunfels.
Nearly two thirds of all cancer patients will require radiation treatment at some point during their illness. Those treatments generally take 10 to 15 minutes and are administered five days a week. Area patients who were following that weekly regimen in San Antonio have been spending an average of $135 per week just to purchase fuel.
In addition to radiation therapy, the new facility will also include a hematology oncology practice space with a 10 seat infusion suite furnished with recliners designed specifically for infusion therapy patients.
A second 17,000-square-foot building will provide office space for recently recruited hospital medical staff, including cardiologist Dr. K.N. Anwar, orthopedic surgeon Dr. Jack Conoley, general surgeon Dr. Sandra Boenig and pediatrician Dr. Roy Guerrero.
We extend our gratitude to all who made this facility a reality: to Roger Berry who served as the catalyst for the project after helping to transport both his father and father-in-law to San Antonio for radiation therapy, to the late Joseph Puccini whose donation of land provided a much-needed home for the center, to the late Gov. Dolph Briscoe Jr. and Janey Briscoe Marmion whose donation of $1.2 million created enormous momentum in the early stages of the project and to members of the Saving Lives Close to Home capital campaign who raised $5.4 million in a two-year period from individuals, businesses and foundations.
The Kate Marmion Regional Cancer Medical Center, named in honor of Briscoe’s granddaughter and Jim and Janey Marmion’s daughter, is tangible evidence of the good that people united for a common cause can do. We are proud that such a group of people found fertile ground in our community.
