Jul. 13–SARATOGA SPRINGS — When city resident Johnnie Parker was diagnosed with prostate cancer five years ago, treatment was a long way away.
Five days a week for nine weeks, his wife, Linda, or friends drove him to Rexford — about a half-hour each way. Thanks to the help of others, Parker’s treatment was only inconvenient. For those patients without a means of transportation, traveling to Rexford or Glens Falls could be even more difficult.
That’s why Parker was one of the happiest of more than a dozen speakers Tuesday afternoon at Saratoga Hospital. Not only was he present at the opening of the hospital’s Mollie Wilmot Radiation Oncology Center, he also had a role in the design of the facility.
“This is wonderful,” said Parker, who is back to work as an engineer and describes his cancer as controlled. “For me it’s the knowledge that the people in Saratoga don’t have to travel anymore. There are a lot of people who are going to go through this who will not have it as easy as I did.”
More than 150 people came out to support the opening of the 9,000-square-foot, $8.2 million center. Located at the eastern end of the hospital with a separate entrance, the center has already started seeing patients.
Marylou Whitney, who donated $1.1 million toward the project, named the center for her friend. Wilmot was a well-known socialite based in Palm Beach, Fla., and a major contributor to the hospital. She was known for her oversize white sunglasses, long fingernails and for having a 200-foot freighter run aground on her beachside property in 1984. When she died in September 2002, Wilmot left $3 million to Saratoga Hospital in her will. Whitney said her friend had been the hospital’s largest donor.
Whitney’s husband, John Hendrickson, lost a sister to cancer a few years ago. At the time, she was living in Alaska, and had to fly three hours to Anchorage every time she needed treatment.
“We have taken a big step forward,” he said.
The Saratoga hospital began work on the center in late September. It will have about 9 employees, and is headed by Medical Director Dr. James Spiegel, an oncologist recruited from Seattle.
At the heart of the center is the massive, $1.5 million linear accelerator, which the hospital describes as “the most sophisticated radiation treatment technology available.” With its dark interior, sleek machinery and twinkling ceiling — the fake stars will help relax patients, technicians say — the therapy room seemed almost like a shrine.
But for patients, its hulking shape and lines of red laser light (used to pinpoint where the radiation will impact the body) may seem a little more ominous. That’s why the center has a softer element as well — the Circle of Care.
A group of former cancer patients, including Johnnie Parker, had a role in the design of the center and will volunteer to counsel patients. The center also will include a library of cancer books for patients, and two computers where patients can look for more information about their diseases and treatments.
“In the past, the urgency of just treating the cancer overshadowed the psychosocial and spiritual crises of patients getting the treatment,” Spiegel said. Today, both the physical needs and spiritual needs of the patients can be met, he said.
“I think it demonstrates taking care of the whole person,” he said.
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