Mercy Plans New Cancer Center Building

CRYSTAL CITY, Mo.  – The next generation of cancer treatment at Mercy Hospital Jefferson will come in a new facility. President Eric Ammons announced today that plans are being completed to build a new cancer center.

The new facility delivers on Mercy’s promise to expand and improve cancer services when Jefferson Regional became a part of Mercy in 2013. Rather than make renovations on the existing building, a new center is being proposed on the Spinning Wheels Skate Center property purchased in 2014.

“The project is still in the design stage and will have to go through the standard building permitting process. With the new cancer center we will be able to offer the most up-to-date cancer treatment options for the people in our community,” Ammons said.

The first step in the project will be the demolition of the Spinning Wheels building and a small medical office building on Industrial Drive. The Spinning Wheels building has been used as storage space since its purchase, and most recently, the Mercy Transportation Department has occupied the old office space.

Transportation drivers and support staff will be relocating to the hospital’s former laundry facility off Airport Road. As of April 4, laundry services for the hospital are provided by the contract service, King Linen. Former laundry co-workers have been reassigned to other positions at the hospital.

The small medical office building was originally the office of Family Practice physician Dr. Padmini Charles. In addition to the Transportation Department, it has housed many hospital support and community offices including the American Cancer Society and the Mid-East Area Agency on Aging. 

Although design specifics are not complete, the new center will be more than double the size of the original cancer center.

“We will provide additional details about the new center as we receive project approvals. We wanted to get the word out about the new center, because we know there are many cherished memories in our community with the former Spinning Wheels Skate Center, and we knew that demolition would bring about many questions,” Eric said. “As is the case with all projects Mercy has brought to our community and to communities throughout the ministry, area residents can expect a state-of-the-art facility that focuses on patient experience and healing.”

Mercy, named one of the top five large U.S. health systems in 2017 by Truven, an IBM Watson Health company, serves millions annually. Mercy includes 44 acute care and specialty (heart, children’s, orthopedic and rehab) hospitals, more than 700 physician practices and outpatient facilities, 40,000 co-workers and more than 2,000 Mercy Clinic physicians in Arkansas, Kansas, Missouri and Oklahoma. Mercy also has outreach ministries in Arkansas, Louisiana, Mississippi and Texas.