Boston-based Tufts Medical Center and The Cam Neely Foundation for Cancer Care unveiled the Marlene Neely Center for Digestive Health, a facility focused on the prevention, diagnosis and treatment of GI illness.
Here are five things to know:
1. Colorectal cancer is the second leading cause of cancer-related death and the third most common cancer in the U.S.
2. The 16,000-square-foot Marlene Neely Center for Digestive Health combines GI clinic space and a procedure suite designed in partnership with patients, families and staff.
There are 10 new exam rooms, five endoscopy procedure rooms, two of which are designed to accommodate advance endoscopic procedures and expanded preparation and recovery areas. There are three waiting pods.
3. Joel Weinstock, MD, chief of the division of gastroenterology at Tufts Medical Center, said that the new center "will allow us to provide one convenient, accessible location for all GI services including clinical exams, screening colonoscopies and complex GI procedures like endoscopic retrograde cholangio-pancreatography." Dr. Weinstock claimed that Tufts currently sees many thousands of patients annually at its GI department and will be able to see even more people with this new space.
4.The Cam Neely Foundation worked with Dr. Weinstock for five years to bring the new center to fruition and donated $31 million to Tufts Medical Center. Foundation president and NHL Hall of Famer Mr. Cam Neely named the center for his mother, Mrs. Marlene Neely, who died from colon cancer in 1987.
5. Community support played a large role in financing the new center. The annual Comics Come Home event, the longest running standup comedy benefit in the nation created by Mr. Denis and Mr. Neely, raised $1.5 million in donations to support the $8 million project.
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