December 03, 2019: PORTLAND, Maine – Maine Medical Center (MMC) celebrated two new floors dedicated to oncology at an open house and ribbon cutting in the hospital’s Coulombe Family Tower Wednesday. The Susan Donnell Konkel Pavilion for Surgical Oncology and the Marshall L. and Susan Gibson Pavilion for Medical Oncology include 64 single, universal rooms where patients will receive state-of-the-art cancer care in a private setting. The event also highlighted how this significant achievement in MMC’s expansion and modernization project is beginning to improve patient care throughout the medical center.
The addition to the Coulombe Family Tower was built to meet the contemporary needs of patients. The pavilions feature modern air flow systems, family lounges and floor to ceiling windows. With one floor dedicated to medical oncology and another to surgical oncology, patients with similar health care needs can be grouped closer together and receive focused care. The new oncology beds also are able to adapt to the needs of patients, whether they have come to the hospital for a specialized surgery or to receive care and treatment as part of a clinical trial.
“Today marks a great step forward in the quality of care and the care experience our patients receive,” said MMC President Jeffrey Sanders. “These new private rooms will significantly improve the healing environment for our oncology patients and will begin to help address some of the capacity challenges Mane Medical Center has been increasingly experiencing over the past several years.”
The Coulombe Family Tower addition is part of MMC’s $534 million expansion and modernization project that will eventually add 128 private rooms and 19 procedure rooms for surgeries and other complex treatments, re-orient the front of MMC to Congress Street and greatly improve parking access for patients and staff. The new rooms will help alleviate stress on the hospital’s emergency department, where many patients wait for a room elsewhere in the hospital because there are no available beds.
The open house also celebrated the Linda and Diana Bean Sisters Heliport, scheduled to open this month. The heliport allows for two helicopters to land atop the Coulombe Tower simultaneously and provides direct access to MMC’s emergency department via a dedicated elevator.
“Maine Medical Center serves the sickest patients in our region and is recognized as playing a critical role in the region’s continuum of care,” said Joel Botler, M.D., MMC’s Chief Medical Officer. “Our modernized facilities will allow us to continue to meet the growing acute care needs of our patients and allow our dedicated care teams to operate at their very highest capabilities.”
Medical oncology patients requiring hospitalization will move into the Marshall L. and Susan Gibson Pavilion for Medical Oncology on the new seventh floor later this month. Patients will move in to the Susan Donnell Konkel Pavilion for Surgical Oncology on the new sixth floor in the winter of 2020. MMC hopes to complete its entire modernization project in 2022.
A time lapse video of construction as well as images of the helipad can be downloaded here: https://www.dropbox.com/sh/ebbl7nmmx6n6dm0/AADfJt7bgiPPQiREzJzTC8fDa?dl=0
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About Maine Medical Center
Maine Medical Center (MMC), recognized as a Best Regional Hospital by U.S. News and World Report for 2017-2018, is a complete health care resource for the people of Greater Portland and the entire state, as well as northern New England. Incorporated in 1868, MMC is the state’s largest medical center, licensed for 637 beds and employing nearly 8,700 people. MMC’s unique role as both a community hospital and a referral center requires an unparalleled depth and breadth of services, including an active educational program and a world-class biomedical research center. As a nonprofit institution, Maine Medical Center provides nearly 23 percent of all the charity care delivered in Maine. MMC is a member of the MaineHealth system, a growing family of health care services in northern New England. For more information, visit www.mmc.org.
