• Mayo Clinic Cancer Center at St. Vincent’s opens for patients

Artist rendering of Mayo Clinic Cancer Center at St. VincentJACKSONVILLE, Fla. — To deliver Mayo Clinic’s nationally ranked comprehensive cancer care to more people in Northeast Florida, the Mayo Clinic Cancer Center located at St. Vincent’s Riverside will open to patients on Oct. 17. The collaboration between Mayo Clinic’s Florida campus and St. Vincent’s HealthCare, a part of Ascension, the nation’s largest Catholic and non-profit health system, brings Mayo Clinic’s cancer services to patients in a newly built 11,500-square-foot medical suite on the campus of St. Vincent’s Riverside.

“We are excited to launch this community collaboration and we look forward to further meeting the needs of cancer patients, right here in their own community,” says Gianrico Farrugia, M.D., CEO, Mayo Clinic in Florida.  “This community collaboration will enable patients to receive cancer care at Mayo Clinic Cancer Center at St. Vincent’s and come to Mayo’s San Pablo Road campus when they need highly complex care, such as bone marrow transplants.”

As part of the agreement, Mayo Clinic is staffing the facility with physicians from its Department of Hematology/Oncology. St. Vincent’s is assuming the remaining clinical and administrative responsibilities.

“This collaboration is all about providing the people of our community access to the most advanced cancer care available anywhere, right here at home,” says Tom VanOsdol, chief operating officer, St. Vincent’s HealthCare. “At the Mayo Clinic Cancer Center located at St. Vincent’s Riverside, patients will receive the best of both worlds: world-renowned cancer care delivered by Mayo physicians in the holistic, compassionate tradition of St. Vincent’s and in our beautiful setting along the St. Johns River.”

MEDIA CONTACTS:
Paul Scotti, Mayo Clinic Public Affairs, 904-953-0199, scotti.paul@mayo.edu
Kyle Sieg, St. Vincent’s HealthCare, 904-308-7992, kyle.sieg@jaxhealth.com

The facility is designed to take advantage of natural surroundings by maximizing views of the river, particularly in treatment rooms. The cancer services include medical oncology, an infusion center for chemotherapy, and multidisciplinary disease specialized care for various types of cancer.

“By expanding the reach of Mayo Clinic’s cancer services in Northeast Florida, we are enabling more patients to get the quality cancer care they need, when they need it,” says Asher Chanan-Khan, M.D., chair, Department of Hematology/Oncology on Mayo Clinic’s Florida campus.

St. Vincent’s Riverside, which has one of the longest running cancer programs in the country with more than 50 years of continual accreditation by the American College of Surgeons, is home to the Mary Virginia Terry Cancer Center. The Mayo Clinic Cancer Center is the only comprehensive cancer center designated by the National Cancer Institute in Northeast Florida and one of two in the state. Mayo Clinic, which is one of only four institutions in Florida designated by the state as a Cancer Center of Excellence, is nationally ranked in cancer in the U.S. News & World Report annual survey of more than 5,000 hospitals. Mayo Clinic’s Florida campus is ranked as the No. 1 hospital in Florida in that survey.

An official blessing and dedication ceremony will be held on Nov. 7.

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About Ascension
Ascension (www.ascension.org) is a faith-based healthcare organization dedicated to transformation through innovation across the continuum of care. As the largest non-profit health system in the U.S. and the world’s largest Catholic health system, Ascension is committed to delivering compassionate, personalized care to all, with special attention to persons living in poverty and those most vulnerable. In FY2016, Ascension provided more than $1.8 billion in care of persons living in poverty and other community benefit programs. Ascension includes approximately 150,000 associates and 36,000 aligned providers. Ascension’s Healthcare Division operates 2,500 sites of care – including 141 hospitals and more than 30 senior living facilities – in 24 states and the District of Columbia, while its Solutions Division provides a variety of services and solutions including physician practice management, venture capital investing, investment management, biomedical engineering, facilities management, clinical care management, information services, risk management, and contracting through Ascension’s own group purchasing organization.

About St. Vincent’s HealthCare
St. Vincent’s HealthCare includes: St. Vincent’s Riverside, St. Vincent’s Southside, St. Vincent’s Clay County, St. Catherine Labouré Manor, St. Vincent’s Primary Care, Consolidated Laboratories, St. Vincent’s Ambulance Service and Seton Pharmacies. St. Vincent’s Medical Center was founded by the Daughters of Charity in 1916 to provide health services to the sick and the poor of North Florida. St. Luke’s Hospital, now St. Vincent’s Southside, was founded in 1873 by three women who saw the need for medical care in the community. It stands as Florida’s oldest private hospital. St. Vincent’s HealthCare is a member of Ascension, the nation’s largest non-profit and Catholic health system, with approximately 150,000 associates serving in 2,500 sites of care, including 141 hospitals.

About Mayo Clinic Comprehensive Cancer Center
As a leading institution funded by the National Cancer Institute, the Mayo Clinic Comprehensive Cancer Center conducts basic, clinical and population science research, translating discoveries into improved methods for prevention, diagnosis, prognosis and therapy. For information on cancer clinical trials, call 1-855-776-0015 (toll-free).

About Mayo Clinic
Mayo Clinic is a nonprofit organization committed to clinical practice, education and research, providing expert, whole-person care to everyone who needs healing. For more information, visit http://www.mayoclinic.org/about-mayo-clinic or https://newsnetwork.mayoclinic.org/.