Providing a place of hope in the scariest time in many people's lives is the goal of a new cancer center being built in Crown Point.
Franciscan Health broke ground Monday on the Dean and Barbara White Cancer Center. It will be located at I-65 and U.S. 231, on the campus of the new Franciscan Health Crown Point Hospital that opened in January.
Franciscan Health Crown Point President and CEO Dr. Daniel McCormick said it will consolidate cancer services currently spread out in the hospital's old Crown Point campus. "Once you start care at a cancer center, you don't really want, in the middle of it, to get up and move and change to a different [location]," McCormick explained. "So, that's the idea is to bring it here and keep it here."
He said it will be a completely modern facility, with two surgical suites and two endoscopy suites. It will be able to provide care from screening and diagnosis to treatment and monitoring, to help patients remain healthy.
Georgene Paulauski has been cancer-free for seven years, after what she calls a very difficult journey. She said the possibility for an all-inclusive location is invaluable, in helping patients maintain normalcy.
"Your center that you're building is more than just a convenient center," Paulauski added. "It's going to answer prayers, and miracles are going to happen there."
Franciscan Health Foundation Chair Sr. Jane Marie Klein, O.S.F. noted that cancer affects a disproportionate number of Northwest Indiana residents, compared to those in other parts of the state. "Franciscan Alliance and the Franciscan Health Foundation are proud to partner with the Dean and Barbara White Foundation on this journey to transform Northwest Indiana into one of the healthiest places in America to live and to raise a family," she said.
The project was made possible, in part, by a $30 million donation from the Dean and Barbara White Family Foundation, the largest gift ever received by the Franciscan Health Foundation.
Dean and Barbara White Family Foundation President Craig White lost his own brother to cancer in recent years. He said the new center is being designed with individual patients and their families in mind.
"For the people in Northwest Indiana, where they no longer will have to drive all the way up to Chicago or a distance, and everybody can be local and have world-class treatment," White said.
Bishop Robert McClory of the Diocese of Gary blessed the site and took part in the ceremonial groundbreaking. The 71,000-square-foot, three-story cancer center is being built by Tonn and Blank Construction. It's scheduled to open in early 2027.
