The new unit has 24 private patient rooms, two nurses stations, a large playroom and several offices for nurses, support services, research staff and physicians. The vision for the new unit was to create a healing environment where children with cancer, sickle-cell, hemophilia and other serious blood disorders could receive advanced treatment options and have access to state-of-the-art equipment and leading clinical research trials.
JJCCC treats nearly 1,000 babies, kids and teens each year and is the second in the nation for enrollment in children’s oncology group clinical trials to advance research and offer the latest and most effective treatments to young patients.
Among the hundreds of attendees at the event were: major donors of the new unit; community members; former California Governor George Deukmejian; Diana Hendel, CEO, Long Beach Memorial, Miller Children’s and Community Hospital Long Beach; and several staff members, physicians, and patients of the hospital.
The estimated cost to build the unit was $14.8 million, which was funded through the Prop 3 Children’s Hospital Bond Act, with a philanthropic goal of $5 million. JJCCC through the Memorial Medical Center Foundation has so far raised more than $3.7 million for an endowment fund for this new unit. The endowment fund will help sustain new research and patient programs.
“The new hematology/oncology unit is a huge step in our fight against pediatric cancer and serious blood disorders and our ability to provide the highest quality of health care to our patients,” said Amanda Termuhlan, M.D., medical director, JJCCC at Miller Children’s Hospital Long Beach. “We are so thankful for everyone who was involved in making the vision for a new pediatric cancer unit a reality.”
