Doors Open to New Cleveland Clinic Cancer Center

CLEVELAND, Ohio – The new Cleveland Clinic Taussig Cancer Center in Ohio began welcoming patients on Monday, March 6. The 377,000-square-foot facility, estimated at $276 million, houses all outpatient cancer treatment services in one location with the center’s team of medical and radiation oncologists, surgeons, nurses, genetic counselors, social workers and others all working together in one shared space to improve patient outcomes. 

The new seven-story cancer building is located on the north side of Carnegie Avenue between East 102nd and 105th s streets. The facility was designed with patient experience and empathy in mind, drawing on feedback from a panel of former cancer patients who outlined what would make their experience as ideal, welcoming and healing as possible.

The new building, designed by William Rawn Associates, Architects, Inc. and Stantec Architecture, is organized by cancer type, allowing patients to have all of their appointments in one area where clinical caregivers come to the patient. For example, all clinical and treatment areas for breast cancer are located together on the same floor offering greater convenience for patients. The new cancer center was designed to create a healing environment by the use of natural light throughout the entire facility. Reception areas are filled with light, infusion rooms feature floor-to-ceiling windows and a skylight allows natural light into the lower level where patients will receive radiation and imaging services. In addition, a new 350-foot-long canopy at the building’s entrance will provide a more convenient and welcoming arrival process for patients.

The new building includes an open first level featuring a large laboratory to help avoid long waits for blood testing, an outpatient pharmacy, a retail store stocked with items to meet cancer patients’ needs and a café that accommodates special diets.

Clinical features include:

• 126 exams rooms and 98 treatment rooms in close proximity
• Private chemotherapy infusion suites along the north side of the building with floor-to-ceiling windows that overlook the tree-lined lawn
• Genetics and genomics testing
• A centralized home for existing high-level treatment technology, including six linear accelerators and a Gamma Knife suite
• Onsite diagnostic imaging
• Dedicated area for phase 1, 2 and 3 clinical trials, with a special emphasis on supporting phase 1 trials
• Beyond clinical services, the facility’s first floor houses critical support services intended to reduce cancer’s psychological stress. Those services include:
  • A resource center where patients and families can access printed and online cancer information
  • Art and music therapy spaces
  • A boutique where patients with chemotherapy-associated hair loss can receive free wigs, caps and scarves
  • A wellness center for guided imagery, facials and other aesthetic services
  • A private prosthetics fitting area
  • The 4th Angel Mentoring Program, an initiative begun by figure skating champion and Cleveland Clinic cancer patient Scott Hamilton, to provide patients with free, confidential, one-on-one advice and support from a trained volunteer and cancer survivor
  • A spiritual area for prayer or meditation

Led by Turner Construction, 2,000 construction employees logged more than 1 million hours on the project. During construction, a special recognition wall was installed for workers to place ribbons inscribed with the names of loved ones affected by cancer using colored ribbons to denote the type of cancer, such as dark blue for colon cancer and white for lung cancer. Located in an area where tradespeople passed daily, this wall helped serve as a reminder of the new facility’s purpose, and will be preserved as a permanent art piece in the new building.

The new cancer center will replace the existing Taussig Cancer Institute building on East 90th and Euclid Avenue.