BEAUMONT, Texas — Baptist Hospital in Beaumont in getting a new $40 million cancer center that they say will rival the cancer treatment at MD Anderson in Houston.
Baptist Hospital made the announcement during it's annual La Soiree fundraiser this weekend. Many of the donations from that night are helping pay for the new state of the art facility.
The Baptist Cancer Center will streamline care. The two locations in Beaumont will be under one roof putting patients and doctors in one convenient location.
"I think it's going to be giving us a cancer center that rivals what we see in bigger metropolitan cities like Houston," said Oncologist Dr. Chisaroka Echendu.
Just down the street from Baptist, officials are preparing to break ground on the new $40 million dollar cancer center.
"We'll have the radiation oncologists, we'll have a nursing staff, we'll have an infusion center with 40 beds," said Dr. Echendu.
Dr. Echendu says right now patients travel between two cancer centers on Stagg Drive and North 11th Street.
"Sometimes having to go to both places on the same day. I think it's better also for care when we are all in the same building," Dr. Echendu said.
They've treated 31,000 patients through infusion and radiation last year alone, according to Dr. Echendu. Now she's seeing numbers spike in patients in their 30's.
"Especially colorectal cancer and even breast cancer in younger and younger patients," she said.
More importantly, the new center will give everyone access to help.
"We have patient health care navigators that help us obtain insurance or health care coverage for patients whether they are insured or under insured," Dr. Echendu.
Ronaldo Rodriguez works across the street from where the new hospital will be built.
"It's real good that we're going to have one a lot closer, a lot local," Rodriguez said. "I want people to know, people in the community to know that excellent care is available right here."
The old Altus Hospice Garden building will be torn down to make way for the new cancer center.
Dr. Echendu says they hope to break ground very soon and they expect to open in the fall of 2025.