People can get their first look inside the Helmsley Center Avera Cancer Institute in Pierre during an open house Sunday from 11am–2pm.
Avera St. Mary’s vice president of the Clinic Division Karl Richards says the center makes comprehensive cancer care available in central South Dakota.
Certified Nurse Practitioner Jamie Hillmer is part of the cancer care team. She says type, frequency and duration of cancer treatments vary with each patient.
The Helmsley Center, housed on the campus of Avera St. Mary’s Hospital in Pierre, was made possible by up to $10 million in funding from The Leona M. and Harry B. Helmsley Charitable Trust and generous donors to the $2.5 million Helmsley Center Dollar for Dollar Match Challenge.
Joan Adam and her husband Karl serve as co-chairs for the fundraising effort that began in August 2016.
Adam says she and her husband know the challenges cancer patients and their families face because their son Conrad is a cancer survivor.
The linear accelerator is the piece of equipment that delivers radiation therapy and is the device around which the Helmsley Center project primarily revolves.
Journey Construction project engineer Cody Sharrow says building the vault, located on the first floor, took time, effort and precision.
The $30 million, three-story Helmsley Center is home to the sixth Avera Cancer Institute location. The main floor also features 120 green Amazonite stones within the floor, representing Avera St. Mary’s Hospital’s 120 years of service. Amazonite is known as the hope stone and said to have healing properties.
Other specialties housed in the 57,000-square-foot Helmsley Center include orthopedics and podiatry; physical medicine and rehabilitation; interventional pain medicine; dermatology; ear, nose and throat; urology; and specialty outreach clinics. The Avera St. Mary’s Foundation and Human Resources will both have a home in this center.
Patients, families and visitors can enjoy a warm welcome and delicious meals and snacks at the Riverstone Bistro. A meditation room features stained glass from the decommissioned Catholic Church in Worthing, SD, donated to Avera by the Catholic Diocese of Sioux Falls. A multicultural room is a place for patients and visitors to perform cultural healing and spiritual practices, such as burning sage to honor Native American traditions. Two outdoor healing gardens offer a peaceful place for patients and visitors to walk.
Linear Accelerator machine in it’s vault.
Avera St. Mary’s President and Chief Medical Officer Mikel Holland, MD and Journey Construction project engineer Cody Sharrow
One of the healing gardens
Amazonite stone in the floor
