Stillwater Medical Center’s recent expansion projects gain recognition from the Associated General Contractors of Oklahoma (AGCOK). Manhattan Construction Co. received the “Best of the Best Award” for the Stillwater Cancer Center Phase 1 expansion and Lambert Construction received the “Build Oklahoma Award” for the Stillwater Surgery Center expansion.
Stillwater Medical is committed to providing quality and compassionate healthcare to North Central Oklahoma. This leads the healthcare system to invest in facility improvements and expansion projects that ensure providers and patients have access to excellent care.
“Our experience from groundbreaking to now is that we’ve gone from a center with three therapists and to a center with five. We now have a full-time physicist. Our physician coverage has increased to five days a week thanks to remote access. That makes a difference for our patients,” said David Hatfield, medical dosimetrist and manager of the radiation therapy department.
Hatfield assisted administration in the coordinated effort to expand the Stillwater Cancer Center to bring MR-Linac technology to the region. The MR-Linac provides continuous, anatomy specific MR imaging and comprehensive motion management for precision radiation therapy. This enhanced detail allows doctors to deliver more powerful doses of radiation, drastically reducing the number of treatments for some cancer patients. Based on an individual’s oncology evaluation, prostate cancer may now be treated in only five treatments versus the traditional 42 treatments.
Hatfield partnered with Manhattan Construction and architects from REES to complete the first phase, which added a 2,600-square-foot mass concrete linear accelerator vault housing the MR-Linac. The project involved many teams working toward one goal.
“There’s been years of cooperation with engineers, physicists, construction management folks, I could go on and on.” Hatfield said. “From the day the concrete was poured, it’s been all about the patient. Everything was designed around the patient’s experience.”
That same motivation propelled the Stillwater Surgery Center expansion. Lambert Construction and HFG architects worked closely with surgery center staff to understand and address patient and provider needs. The Stillwater Surgery Center was a four-phase project including a 7,700-square-foot addition along with a 5,500-square-foot interior renovation. The Center now has one new OR surgery suite, three new endoscopy surgery suites and eight new pre-op/post-op rooms in addition to new reception areas, administrative offices and clean-work rooms.
Both Lambert Construction and Manhattan received additional AGCOK awards, indicating their commitment to excellence. Having capable construction partners enables innovation in treatment and elevates the patient experience, according to Stillwater Medical Center’s Chief Administrative Officer Steven Taylor.
“It’s great to be part of an organization that has the commitment to keep the facilities up-to-date to provide the best services possible for the community,” Taylor said. “We can’t do this alone. Partners like Manhattan and Lambert Construction bring the expertise, professionalism and hard work needed to make this vision a reality.”
