Syracuse, NY -- St. Joseph’s Hospital Health Center is opening a comprehensive cancer center as part of a partnership with Upstate New York’s top cancer institute.
The Syracuse hospital is expanding its limited infusion program into a bigger space with a new, full-time medical director and seven other new hires, including nurses and medical assistants.
The center opened this week in a temporary space inside the existing hospital. But it will move in about a year to a new space in the hospital’s physicians’ building on North Townsend Street, said Meredith Price, the hospital’s senior vice president of operations. The bottom floors used to be a parking structure but are now being converted into offices.
In the new space, St. Joe’s will be able to welcome about 30 patients a day for infusions and other services, Price said. Until now, 20% to 30% of the hospital’s cancer patients had to be referred to other places due to lack of space and equipment.
The goal is to keep more of St. Joseph’s patients within the network as they battle common cancers, such as leukemia or lung cancer, Price said.
Progress continues on converting an old parking garage into medical offices at the St. Joseph's Hospital Health Center physicians' building on Dec. 14, 2023.Douglass Dowty | ddowty@syracuse.com
St. Joe’s says its partnership with Roswell Park Comprehensive Cancer Center, in Buffalo, will offer Central New Yorkers top-level cancer care close to home. Roswell Park doctors can be consulted for treatment decisions and offer in-patient care to those who need intensive services. Roswell Park is in Buffalo and is the only National Cancer Institute-designated facility in Upstate New York.
Dr. Haider Khadim, who was trained at Upstate Medical University before taking a job in Buffalo, will oversee treatment for St. Joe’s. He said there’s an increasing need for cancer care because patients are living longer with the disease.
That’s a good thing, he added.
St. Joe’s has doubled their number of cancer-specialized registered nurses, from two to four, and is looking to hire more medical staff for the new center, Price said.
This is just the latest cancer-care expansion in Central New York. Upstate Medical recently opened a new cancer center in Oneida County. And Hematology-Oncology Associates of CNY is building a new facility in Camillus.
Staff writer Douglass Dowty can be reached at ddowty@syracuse.com or (315) 470-6070.