SOMERSET, Pa. – Cancer treatment has returned to Somerset.
UPMC Hillman Cancer Center at UPMC Somerset started seeing patients earlier this week at 314 S. Kimberly Ave.
There are plans for a grand opening at 4 p.m. June 29 and a community open house from 5:30 to 7 p.m. that day.
The Somerset community has been without oncology services since January 2020, when Allegheny Health Network Cancer Institute closed its facility near the hospital. That was about a year after Somerset Hospital was acquired by UPMC and became UPMC Somerset. AHN officials said the closure was driven by the “change in the market” following the UPMC merger.
At that time, UPMC leaders pledged to open their own Somerset oncology center quickly.
“We are working very diligently to prepare oncology space so we can provide oncology services in the community of Somerset,” Stephanie Dutton, UPMC Hillman Cancer Center’s chief operating officer, said in December 2019.
Officials began studying existing programs, looking for space for a cancer center inside the hospital. Owners of nearby buildings were contacted to ask about rental space, with eyes on an opening in the spring of 2020.
All that was derailed when the COVID-19 pandemic hit in March 2020. Negotiations with potential landlords slowed to a crawl and other plans went to the back burner.
Eventually, negotiations resumed with the owners of the former AHN cancer building and UPMC was able to purchase the building.
Some $4 million in renovations later, the South Kimberly Avenue location is open as a state-of-the-art facility for treating cancer patients through medical oncology, said UPMC Somerset President Andrew Rush.
Renovations and upgrades created a cancer center with nine treatment spaces and four exam rooms.
“Our new center is designed to produce an exceptional experience for our patients,” Rush said. “We’ve prioritized creating a calm, healing environment with privacy and comfort in mind.”
Patients from the Somerset, Johnstown, Altoona, Bedford and New Cumberland areas who require radiation oncology services are referred to UPMC Hillman Cancer Center at John P. Murtha Pavilion in Johnstown.
“The centralization of radiation oncology aligns with our vision to redesign health care services for the region to pool together UPMC’s high-quality resources – our talented people, best-in-class technologies and modernized facilities – to improve care and deliver highly reliable services for years to come,” Rush said. “We will continue to assist with transportation needs as it is related to making sure patients can receive their radiation treatments in Johnstown.”
Randy Griffith is a multimedia reporter for The Tribune-Democrat. He can be reached at 532-5057. Follow him on Twitter @PhotoGriffer57.
