RUMFORD – Patients who must undergo chemotherapy or some other infusion treatment at Rumford Hospital will soon have a more spacious and comfortable environment.

The former wellness center space on the third floor will be transformed into a new oncology clinic, tripling the size of the current facility across the hall.

Jane Bubar, hospital spokeswoman, said the current infusion therapy space, dedicated in 1999 in memory of Dave Lariviere by his parents, Al and Freda Lariviere, was once a patient room. It’s 20 by 20 feet.

When two or three patients must undergo therapy simultaneously, the room can be cramped. And besides, said head oncology nurse Lisa Hodgkins, patients have very little privacy.

The new clinic, expected to be ready for use by the end of the summer, will have five chairs and one bed for treatments and a nurse’s station, along with a bathroom, family waiting area, storage and records space, and a consulting room for nurses or doctors to meet in private with patients.

The new space will measure about 60 by 20 feet.

“Everyone is excited about it. We knew we would need more space since 1999,” said Bubar.

The current clinic has been in operation since 1997. When it started, the clinic meant that Rumford area people who needed chemotherapy or other infusion treatments for such diseases as cancer, Crohn’s disease or multiple sclerosis didn’t have to travel to Lewiston or other clinics out of the region.

Such treatments can take from three to eight hours each, and many patients receive them up to three times a week.

Cost of the renovation of the site is estimated at about $60,000, Bubar said. The money is coming from the 2003 and 2004 annual hospital appeals as well as the hospital’s oncology fund.

Since the first oncology clinic was established at the hospital, use has tripled because people have been taking advantage of receiving their treatments locally, Bubar said.

Hodgkins is pleased patients will have a more spacious and private place to receive their therapy.

“We want people to be comfortable and to be able to have their family nearby,” she said.
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