Cancer treatments close to home
Open House set for Hansen Center
Wanda English Burnett - Editor

Not having to drive to the city for treatments for cancer is going to be a reality as soon as The J. Michael Hansen, M.D., Oncology Center and Margaret Mary Community Hospital Outpatient Services new facility is opened on February 7.

This Sunday, January 30, an Open House is planned from 11:00 a.m. - 2:00 p.m. where tours of the beautiful new facility will be offered. The new center is located at 24 Six Pine Ranch Road, Batesville, just inside Franklin County.

Along with the comprehensive cancer care services, which will be located on the first floor of the 52,198-square foot facility, there will be specialty clinics that include: allergy/immunology, audiology, cardiology, dermatology, endocrinology, gastroenterology, neurology, oral surgery, pediatric cardiology, plastic surgery, psychiatry, pulmonology, and sleep medicine.

The clinic will include two state-of-the-art endocscopy suites. There are 10 prep/recovery rooms available to patients and their families undergoing an endoscopy. Moving to the new center will afford patients more privacy and their stay more comfortable, according to Yvonne Schneider, Outpatient Clinic Manager.

Schneider said now there are more than 17,000 visits to the clinic located on SR 129 each year. "I think the new center will provide the kind of environment patients and physicians will appreciate," she noted. All the outpatient clinics with the exception of the orthopedic clinic, will be
located in the new facility. The orthopedic clinic will remain at the SR 129 site.

From the opening where patients and their families will feel the comfort of a family waiting room to a healing garden, where they can relax,
the new facility is designed for those going through the cancer process, whether it be the actual patient or their families. There is a resource library where individuals can do research on their own and a boutique where things that are needed by some cancer patients can be purchased, such as wigs or prostheses.

The $17.7 million dollar project will become a comfort to many in the immediate area in need of the services. It will be dedicated in honor of J. Michael Hansen, M.D., who was a family practitioner from 1977 to 1999 at the Margaret Mary Community Hospital. He lost his battle with cancer on July 30, 2002. The new facility will open on February 7, on Dr. Hansen's birthday.
General Contractor Bruns-Gutzwiller, Batesville, broke ground for the facility on December 15, 2003, and have been working hard to make the February 7, 2005, deadline, with workers there this week still putting on the finishing touches.

Advertisement for the new facility reads, "New facility. New services. New Hope." Hope is what those responsible for bringing the center to the area want people to find when they are battling one of the worst times of their lives.

WANDA ENGLISH BURNETT PHOTO

Workers were putting finishing touches on the outside of The J. Michael Hansen, M.D., Oncology Center and Margaret Mary Community Hospital Outpatient Services new facility on Tuesday of this week. An Open House for the public is set for Sunday.