Hospital is abuzz as cancer center will be unveiled to the public this weekend

[West Central Tribune, January 21, 2010] It was a major change for chemotherapy patients when the Willmar Regional Cancer Center opened last month.

Instead of going to Affiliated Community Medical Centers, patients are now being treated by their oncologist at the newly integrated center at Rice Memorial Hospital. The change has been “pretty dramatic,” said Dr. J. Michael Ryan, the center’s medical oncologist. “I think they really are impressed with it.”

A new affiliation with the Virginia Piper Cancer Institute at Abbott Northwestern Hospital in Minneapolis is expected to give access to more consultation and an even wider range of treatment protocols, including some that are more advanced and not available except at larger institutions. The cancer center also has a research program enabling eligible patients to participate in selected clinical trials.