Friday morning’s cold, blustery and wet weather made the groundbreaking ceremony for the new Franciscan Alliance’s new comprehensive cancer center in Munster a bit of a challenge.
But with the help of tents and blankets for all, representatives from Franciscan Alliance braved the soggy weather to toss shovels full of dirt in the air and bless the start of construction on the new 83,500-square-foot, $46 million comprehensive cancer center in Munster.
The combination cancer center and medical office building will be a three-story building attached to the existing Franciscan Health Munster facility at 701 Superior Ave.
Sister Jane Marie Klein, Franciscan’s chairwoman of the board, said she was thankful that there were no police on the road as she sped to the groundbreaking ceremony. Though the weather made things challenging, Klein said Franciscan approached the challenge with the same tenacity shown by Mother Teresa and St. Francis.
The Rev. Francis S. Tebbe, director of mission and spiritual care services at Franciscan Health Munster, blessed the site with a sprinkling of holy water and read from St. Paul’s first letter to the Corinthians with the assistance of others in the audience.
Tracey Franovich, vice president of clinical operations for Franciscan Health Munster and St. Margaret Health in Dyer and Hammond, detailed some of the aspects of the project. The center will offer a dedicated breast center with mammography screenings and diagnostics as well as four state-of-the-art endoscopy suites. A 15-chair infusion center for chemotherapy patients will be located adjacent to the pharmacy and lab, and radiation oncology treatment will be available with two linear accelerators for radiation therapy.
Shultz said Franciscan is proud to embark on this project only a few months after completing its $70 million emergency department, which included 24 patient rooms and a cafeteria.
“A lot of people go to Chicago for the kinds of (cancer) services we are going to offer,” Shultz said. “We hope to keep them in Northwest Indiana. We will be offering university-scale cancer treatment here.”
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