Mercy Health Cancer Center blesses latest oncology equipment

ELYRIA — Mercy Health Cancer Center will now have two linear accelerators to treat patients after the hospital system's director of mission blessed the equipment Monday evening. Fr. Damian Ezeani led Monday's ceremony, blessing the machine itself and the hands of the staff who will operate it. Oncology Service Line Director Ben Kosewski said the hospital's new linear accelerator is the "exclamation point" to a series of renovations and upgrades Mercy Health has done to the Schadden Road site since it began its partnership there with The Ohio State University and The James Cancer Network. "For a community cancer center like this, anywhere between (85 percent and 90 percent) of the patients that walk through our door we should be able to treat and I think the upgrade to this machine certainly helps make sure that everybody walks through our door we hit that mark pretty solidly," he said. For Dr. David Barron, medical director of oncology services, and his staff, the new equipment has been a long time coming. "In the last six to seven months we've felt the crush, the stress waiting for this machine to come in," Barron said. "… Just like I tell my patients, I'll tell the team: Every day is a good day, some days are better." The new machine allows physicians to target tumors with X-rays by shaping the dosages to the tumor's shape while sparing the surrounding normal tissue. Treatments are normally several times a week, for about 15 minutes a session — so having the equipment in Lorain County will save patients from driving up to Cleveland, Kosewski said. Depending on how the machine is being used, its success rate at shrinking or eradicating tumors is upward of 85 percent to 90 percent, Barron said. It can also be used for palliative care. Having the additional linear accelerator, or LINAC, will allow for more treatments, or continued treatments if one of the machines needs maintenance. Getting the machines was more than two years in the making, in part because of the steep price point as the equipment is made-to-order in the Netherlands. Unveiling the new LINAC comes on the heels of Mercy Health - Lorain expanding its oncology services to add brachytherapy earlier this year. Barron performed the first brachytherapy in March. The procedure uses radiation seeds, ribbons or wires placed internally in, on or next to cancer cells, to treat uterine cancer. "Nobody does it in the community, you have to go to Cleveland for it. We're the only community site that provides brachytherapy services at the facility," Kosewski said. Contact Carissa Woytach at (440) 329-7245 or cwoytach@chroniclet.com.