A new $35 million state-of-the-art cancer and imaging center is expected to open in early 2019 at Forbes Hospital in Monroeville, the hospital and Allegheny Health Network announced Wednesday.
Even as the announcement was being made inside the hospital, construction workers using earth-moving equipment were already preparing the site outside on the northern end of the 40-year-old facility’s campus.
The two-story center at the intersection of Haymaker Road and Route 48 will provide clinical and support services for cancer patients. Imaging capabilities will include PET and CT scans, MRI, X-rays, bone-density and ultrasound imaging.
To enhance patient comfort, the center will feature abundant natural light and soft colors, creating a calming environment.
About 20 new employees are expected to be hired to augment the staff already working in cancer care at the hospital.
“We’ve provided great care for at Forbes for many years,” Forbes Hospital President Mark Rubino told a large group of physicians, nurses, administrators, staff, public officials and media at the unveiling of artist renderings in the hospital.
“However, in 2019 this takes our commitment to an entirely new level...Our oncology patients will have close-to-home access to a beautiful new state-of-the-art facility that provides them with a world-class, one-stop experience for therapeutic as well as diagnostic needs.”
The new facility is less than a mile from the Pennsylvania Turnpike, Route 376 and Route 22, thereby providing easy access for patients not only from the Monroeville area but also from all other suburbs east of Pittsburgh and from Westmoreland County.
The AHN Cancer Institute at Forbes Hospital is but one facet of a $225 million commitment that AHN and Highmark Health announced in the summer to improve and expand “leading edge” cancer care in Western Pennsylvania.
The Forbes Cancer Center is among a half dozen community-based cancer treatment facilities that AHN will be building over the new couple of years. Monroeville is the first to be formally announced. Among other locations already determined are Erie and in Beaver and Butler counties.
Cynthia Hundorfean, AHN’s president and chief executive officer, said the reason AHN is doing so is simple: Patients want quality care close to home.
“For the past five years, since our affiliation with Highmark Health, we’ve been focusing on expanding access out to our communities,” she said. “It’s important to us to push care where our patients live so they don’t have to travel. This is an example of this.
“Most patients, as we know, want to receive care in their backyard which is why we're doing what we’re doing -- building this on your campus in Monroeville so your patients don’t have to travel and they can have the best of the best care right in their own backyard.”
Michael A. Fuoco: mfuoco@post-gazette.com or 412-263-1968. Twitter: @michaelafuoco.
Correction, updated February 22, 2018: A previous version of this story had the incorrect title for Cynthia Hundorfean.
First Published: February 21, 2018, 5:10 p.m.
