By lesniewski @ Adobe Stock
Timothy O’Hara reports in the Keys News that cancer treatment facilities will return to the Lower Keys. He writes:
The chief executive officer of the Upper and Lower Keys hospital operated by Baptist Health announced recently the hospital chain and another medical provider plans to return cancer treatment services to Key West and the Lower Florida Keys.
Drew Grossman, the CEO of Mariners Hospital in Tavernier and Fishermen’s Community Hospital, told Key West City Commission at its August meeting that “Baptist Health and the Miami Cancer Institute are currently negotiating a lease that will allow us to provide cancer treatment services to the community in the very near future.”
Grossman did not provide city commissioners with a specific location for the center or a timeframe for when the center would be operational.
“It is our intention with the finalized lease to provide both medical and radiation treatment services to the community as quickly as possible,” Grossman told commissioners. “We commit to provide more detail on our plans to you and the community also in the very near future. I want to thank you for allowing me to speak and look forward to the opportunity to provide cancer treatment services to the Key West community.”
Grossman made his comments at the start of the recent commission meeting in which commissioners were scheduled to vote, and did eventually approve, a resolution requesting urgent action by Lower Keys Hospital District and/or Baptist Hospital to re-establish a cancer treatment center in the city.
The resolution has been sponsored by Vice Mayor Kaufman, who created a task force to gather information and advice regarding the renewal process for the lease of the Lower Keys Medical Center, which is set to expire in five years.
The Key West community lost comprehensive cancer treatment in August 2023 when the treatment provider entered bankruptcy proceedings. The Lower Keys Hospital District Board and other treatment providers have been discussing the re-establishment of medical oncology and radiation oncology since that time.
No local services have been made available since that time, although some radiation oncology has been made available in Marathon and Tavernier.
Read more here.
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