Roswell Park Comprehensive Cancer Center’s community outreach is taking a major step forward with the addition of $3 million in total state funding toward its Health, Outreach and Prevention Excellence (HOPE) Center.
The funds include $1 million secured by State Assembly Majority Leader Crystal-Peoples Stokes and $2 million secured by State Senator April Baskin.
Roswell’s work carries personal significance to Baskin. Her father is fighting cancer, but it’s been caught soon enough to receive successful treatment.
“They caught his cancer in enough time to get him through radiation so that he can lead a healthy life, and that me and my children have him longer, Baskin said. "And so, I know firsthand, not just as a state advocate, but as a beneficiary of this community, how important Roswell is.”
The HOPE Center is an important a place where residents and families can visit that’s more comfortable than the halls of a hospital, said Roswell CEO Candace Johnson, Ph.D.
“Maybe their loved one is having surgery at Roswell, and they're too scared to walk into that big, scary, old hospital. You can't blame them for that, but they can come in here and feel warmth," she said. "The benefit of this place is immeasurable, and what it has done to this community is just beyond any of our expectations.”
The project will create the HOPE Center as a new wing at the facility. Work starts in the fall and is expected to take about a year.
Seeing it come to fruition doesn't just represent Roswell expanding its services, it also shows a dedication to the community and preservation of infrastructure that Peoples-Stokes has long worked toward.
"I never imagined that my vision of keeping the building in place would end up being Dr. Johnson's vision of pouring into this community in the way that this facility has done," she said. "And so, I'm really grateful for it's in a current condition, and I look forward to the value it's going to provide in this next generation."
According to Roswell officials, the existing community outreach center has resulted in 200 new partnerships and 800 events over the last two years.
