A CT scan is used to take 3D pictures to pinpoint spots on a patient’s body where radiation is to be directed at Johnson Memorial Hospital in April 2003.
Daily Journal Archives
News from around Johnson County as reported on April 25 in the pages of the Daily Journal and the Franklin Evening Star from the last 112 years.
On this day in 2003, two stories on the front page of the Daily Journal discussed how cancer treatment was being brought closer to home.
The first story discussed how more small hospitals, including Johnson Memorial, were offering radiation therapy. Offering the therapy was fueled by greater demand for the treatment, an aging population of baby boomers approaching their cancer-prone years and a recognition that patients shouldn’t have to drive significant distances for the procedure.
It was also creating greater competition among hospitals in the suburban counties south of Indianapolis.
JMH, St. Francis Hospital and Morgan County Memorial Hospital all either opened or were planning cancer centers
The second story discussed JMH’s cancer center in more detail. Although its official opening was set for that weekend, doctors from the Indiana University Medical Center had already performed the first radiation treatments at the hospital earlier that week.
About half of the new 12,000-square-foot center was dedicated to radiation treatment, while the rest of the space was reserved for chemotherapy treatments as well as an education center, a nutrition area and consultation rooms.
Before the center, the hospital had to give chemotherapy patients their treatments in a wing that was about the size of the new center’s lobby, said center director Steve Jarosinski.
Now patients could relax in private rooms or curtained areas with televisions and chairs for family members. They would be able to wander outside through a garden once construction was done.
Doctors and nurses wanted to help patients work through every aspect of their battle with cancer, said Dr. Anita Conte, who oversaw the chemotherapy department.
—
Other memorable Johnson County stories from this day
2014
Franklin officials were urging the state to make improvements at U.S. 31 and Westview Drive.
1994
Whiteland’s new town hall opened at the site of an old Duncan’s grocery store at 520 E. Main St.
1964
Searchers were continuing the hunt for a missing Center Grove sixth grader.
