New James Open for Business
The new James Cancer Hospital and Solove Research Institute officially opened its doors as planned on Monday, Dec. 15. The monumental task of transporting 182 acute-care cancer patients from the original 12-story, 228-bed James hospital to the new 21-story, 306-bed facility took place one day earlier.
Some 500 volunteers—faculty and staff, family members and friends of The James—helped with the move. It began at 8:30 a.m. and finished just over nine hours later, ending ahead of schedule and without mishap.
Two days earlier, 39 critical-care patients were moved into the new facility, for a total of 221 patients moved that weekend.
“I want to express gratitude to all of you for your hours of hard work, patience and cooperation in making this world-class hospital a reality,” OSUCCC Director and James CEO Michael A. Caligiuri, MD, told the gathering of volunteers.
“All of us have worked so hard to get to where we are today,” Caligiuri said. “Today is all about our patients. As you assist with this move, think of wheeling them not just into a new hospital but across the threshold to a cancer-free world.”
Toward the end of the Sunday move, nurses and staff in the Acute Leukemia Unit of the original James paused and held a brief ceremony to reflect on their experiences and all they had learned in the former location.
The next day, the new James began its first week of operation. The hospital’s advanced operating rooms, ambulatory clinic spaces, infusion center, imaging suites and radiation oncology center all came on line with no significant problems.