A $237M cancer care center offering proton-beam therapy is coming to Illinois
CHICAGO – A $237 million comprehensive cancer care center offering only the second proton-beam therapy location in Illinois was approved by a state health board Tuesday afternoon.
The Illinois Health Facilities and Services Review Board unanimously approved the OSF HealthCare plan to construct a 180,000-square-foot center on its Saint Francis Medical Center campus in Peoria. The center will feature patient education and support spaces, an infusion center, and a full range of cancer-related services.
"We’re very excited to achieve this milestone," said Bob Sehring, CEO of OSF HealthCare. "This is certainly the place we believe can serve as an effective destination center for the people in communities we already serve."
OSF runs cancer centers in Rockford, Danville, Bloomington, Alton, as well as smaller centers in Galesburg.
"Peoria can serve as a connection with all of those (centers). We may have folks who need to come to Peoria for care. Proton beam is a good example of that. But our hope is that they can also return to get care close to their own home," Sehring said.
Peoria Mayor Jim Ardis said he was "unbelievably excited" about the board's decision.
"It’s a huge investment on the part of OSF, and they continue to expand their services in the community. I think it’s going to go a long way to boost Peoria as a destination for a lot of these specialized cares," Ardis said. "A lot of people in this area who have to travel to access to proton-beam are ecstatic about it."
The center is expected to open by June 30, 2024, according to the application, but Sehring said he hopes the center will be able to start treating some patients by 2023.
The hospital's existing Infectious Disease Center and Allied Agencies Building are planned to be demolished to create room for the new facility, which will be northeast of the main hospital building, documents state. The project was also expected to include a ten-story parking garage with 1,285 parking spaces to support the overall hospital campus, according to the application.
"It’s a great thing for the community, and I give credit to OSF for bringing it because I think everybody will benefit," said Terry Teegarden, who wrote a letter to the state health board in support of the OSF proposal. "For anybody going through cancer treatment from a radiation standpoint, this is the latest and greatest."
In 2016, the East Peoria resident received 32 rounds of proton radiation from the Northwestern Medicine Proton Center in Warrenville, Ill., requiring him to drive more than 300 miles a day every weekday for six weeks to receive treatmet.
"Towards the end, I had people helping me drive up there because I was running out of energy driving up and back," Teegarden said. "It was like Bill Murray’s 'Groundhog Day.' I'd vary my routes to break up the monotony."
Teegarden said that he had been given the option to stay at a motel for a reduced price during treatment, but that he preferred to living at home.
"I like to be home sleeping in my own bed, watching my own TV. I think you do better from a treatment standpoint when you’re around surroundings that you’re familiar with," he said.
Proton-beam therapy is a more targeted form of cancer treatment than standard radiation and causes less damage to surrounding tissues. The new proton therapy location will be one of 32 locations in North America, according to OSF.
Illinois ranks seventh in the nation for cancer cases with downstate Illinois projected to see 10,000 new cancer cases per year, according to OSF.
The center will require "significant community partnerships and philanthropic efforts to become a reality," OSF sai
Contributing: Chris Kaergard and Leslie Renken, Peoria Journal Star
This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: Cancer center approved for Peoria, Illinois to offer proton therapy
