Atrium Health opens cancer and blood disorder center

PHOTO | AALIYAH BOWDEN

Atrium Health will debut the Torrey Hemby Center for Cancer & Blood Disorders on July 17.

Atrium Health Levine Children’s Hospital will open a state-of-the-art care center in Charlotte for patients with blood disorders.

The hospital will open the Torrey Hemby Center for Cancer and Blood Disorders on July 17 as an expansion of its commitment to deliver leading-edge oncology, hematology, and cellular therapies care to patients.

“The current space that we have is incredibly outdated,” said Javier Oesterheld, the program’s endowed chair. “This is all about our children, our patients, our families and our staff. We built a lot of areas for our kids that allow them to be children that are patients. We allow our kids to survive and thrive here.”

The 20,000 square foot space was designed with children in mind from nausea-reducing paint colors and lights to a play area with space to enjoy art, games, and music, and interactive features like dry-erase walls and special graphics to help distract patients from treatment. The center also contains 20 exam rooms, conference rooms, and expanded services such as massage therapy and a pharmacy where patients can complete chemotherapy.

“I was diagnosed in April of last year, so I've been coming here since then, and a treatment for my cancer is about three and a half years,” said David Buckland, a leukemia patient at Levine Children’s Hospital who undergoes various chemotherapies, treatments, infusions, and procedures. “I currently come here about once a week.”

The new outpatient treatment center will be beneficial to children of color living with sickle cell disease. The illness is a blood cell disorder that is more common in African Americans. Atrium Health experts said massage therapy will help patients and will be offered free of charge.

“We have a supportive medicine program here with a trained integrative oncologist, hematologist oncologist who will be able to offer therapies to sickle cell patients that are not offered elsewhere,” Oesterheld said. “These go all the way from massage, acupuncture, Reiki therapy, a lot of those things. I think it really sets us apart in our ability to manage that.”

The opening is the recent phase of renovations to turn Atrium Health’s Medical Center Plaza into a fully dedicated children’s outpatient center. The next phase is in planning and construction is set to begin next year.

Aaliyah Bowden, who covers health at The Post, is a Report For America corps member.

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