Seidman Cancer Center opens in Conneaut

Apr. 26—CONNEAUT — Cancer treatment just got a lot more convenient for area residents, as a new treatment center is now open at UH Conneaut.

Donors and hospital leaders gathered at the hospital on Wednesday night to celebrate the ribbon cutting for the new Seidman Cancer Center at the hospital.

At a speech before the ribbon cutting, Irwin Haber, East Market Board Chair for UH, said it had been a herculean effort to get the center open.

"Tonight we follow up on the successful UH Conneaut centennial celebration, and the very generous philanthropic support over the past three years, to officially open this beautiful renovated and repurposed wing at the hospital," Haber said.

He said cancer is the second-leading cause of death in Ashtabula County.

"There was a time not too long ago when the patients and their care-givers had to travel long distances for care, but not anymore," Haber said.

He thanked everyone who provides for the community's healthcare needs.

Jason Glowczewski, COO of UH Conneaut, Geauga and Geneva, said he heard loudly from the community that cancer care close to home was needed.

He said there are 633 new cancer cases in the county every year.

"Now patients don't have to travel for their cancer care, for their chemotherapy, they also don't have to travel to see the doctor, because the doctor's here, now," Glowczewski said.

Cancer not only impacts the patients, but the family members as well, he said.

"One of our leaders was talking to a patient the other day, and this was something that we worried might be true, but the patient actually told one of our hospital leaders, 'Thank you for having a cancer center. I wouldn't have gotten treated if you didn't,'" Glowczewski said.

Tracy Arcaro, a nurse and breast cancer survivor, said one in eight women will be diagnosed with breast cancer at some point in their lifetime.

"For me, I'm very blessed, I have a lot of family, I have a lot of friends, I have good, reliable transportation," Arcaro said. "I know a lot of people in our community do not have any or all of those things.

"I could have traveled further away. My chemotherapy was in the winter, and I was not really looking forward to having to drive to Geauga through the winter-time, so it was especially wonderful that Conneaut was able to provide the chemotherapy for me."

Alan Papa, COO of UH East Market, said UH Conneaut is the smallest of UH's seven east market hospitals, but maybe the mightiest.

"One thing I want to say about ... Geneva and Conneaut, because they really are sister hospitals, that I was walking with Irwin Haber one day, and we were walking around one of the hospitals, I think it might have been here, and he said to me, 'This hospital punches above its weight class,'" he said. "And it does."

Papa said he loves coming to UH Conneaut.

"It's something that I feel is a different part of my job, that I throughly enjoy," he said. "But I enjoy it because of these folks, because of the friendliness here, and the impact we're making to the organization and to this community."

Fundraising for the center started in 2018, and construction finished in 2023, said Denise DiDonato, Director of Operations and Clinical Services at UH Conneaut and Geneva.

A number of things were on back-order and major donors were out of town, which led to the ceremony taking place on Wednesday.

DiDonato said in 2018, an architect had estimated the cost of a larger project at just under $500,000.

"2020 was COVID, everything halted, of course," she said. "2021, we started talking with him again, and then it escalated, where just to do this part and some refinishing was $550,000. So the prices just continued to escalate, and that really impacted our ability to do what we wanted to do."

UH seeks government funding to support projects, but the UH Conneaut Seidman Cancer Center was funded entirely by local donors, DiDonato said.

"No big government funding came in and helped us with this, it was literally a lot of blood, sweat and tears, and a lot of asking," she said.

Diana Bartone, a nurse with the cancer center, said somewhere in the range of 110-120 patients receive infusions at the center per month.

"We do really anticipate that, honestly, within the next six to 12 months, to double," DiDonato said.

She said radiation and cancer surgeries cannot be done at the moment in Conneaut.

"We do definitely plan on, as we bring on new physicians in oncology, to expand some of the services that we can do, procedurally, like bone marrow biopsies," DiDonato said.

"We just didn't have a physician, previously, that had that skill set, but that is what we're looking for, is the ability to do even more types of small procedures here in Conneaut, and Geneva, just to keep people in Ashtabula County, so they don't have to travel."

Bartone said some cancer surgeries like mastectomies or colon resections can be done at UH's Geneva location.

DiDonato said there is also a larger Seidman Cancer Center located at UH Geauga.

"We have patient navigators too, so if there's a patient who really needs specific cancer care from a very specialized specialist, we are very easily able to navigate that patient to that level of care," she said.

Glowczewski said the ribbon cutting was an exciting, special evening.

"I'm so thankful to the community that we could celebrate this, because we wouldn't have any of this without our community," he said.

Glowczewski said he hopes the center will reduce travel time for patients.

"The thing that I worry about is, it takes time for the community and for people to learn that we're here, so if there's one thing I want to do, it's make sure the community knows we're here for them," he said.

He said one benefit of UH's program is the ability for a patient who may need a clinical trial to get it in Cleveland while still receiving care in Conneaut.

"We can mesh things together in a way that we can provide most of their care here, but if there's one surgery that they need, maybe they go for a surgery, but still, 90 percent of their care can be local," Glowczewski said.