Cancer Center Anchors Medical Offices

Teresa Langley proudly shows off the new Cancer Center’s state-of-the-art Linear Accelerator.

Three stories of medical offices, with a light, bright and airy design that puts patient care in the forefront, have opened—or are about to open—in the VacaValley Wellness Center, heralding the future of patient care.

First to open its doors for business was the NorthBay Cancer Center’s Medical Oncology department on the third floor of the new 110,000-square-foot structure which is also home to NorthBay HealthSpring Fitness. (See related story, Page 32.)

Infusion patients can undergo treatment while resting on recliners outfitted with televisions in private and semi-private areas. Down the hall is a specifically designed pharmacy that will serve medical oncology patients. Chemotherapy drugs are mixed in a special room with a ventilation system more advanced than current regulations require.

The second floor will host Solano Diagnostics Imaging, Diabetes & Endocrinology, Integrative Medicine, Cardiac Rehabilitation, Physical and Occupational Therapy and Osteopathic Manipulative Medicine.

By Aug. 2, Radiation Oncology will make its move to the first floor of the Wellness Center, where a state-of-the-art TrueBeam Linear Accelerator will provide fast and precise image-guided radiotherapy and radiosurgery, delivered in seconds compared to other machines that would take from 40 minutes to an hour for treatment.

By the end of August, the Radiation Oncology team will have seen its final patients in the Gateway Medical Plaza on the NorthBay Medical Center Campus in Fairfield, where it opened in 1987. It has served Solano County cancer patients for nearly three decades.

The Cancer Center and Solano Diagnostics Imaging share a permanent PET/CT Imaging machine. Positron emission tomography (PET) is an imaging test that helps reveal how your tissues and organs are functioning.

“Solano County patients will no longer have to wait days for a mobile PET Imaging trailer to roll in from Sacramento for their exams,” said Teresa Langley, service line development director for oncology-cancer center, breast program and pain management.

“And, when a new MRI is added adjacent to VacaValley Hospital this summer, the campus will have a full-fledged imaging center.”

Welcome Pavilion Starting to Take Shape

Work continues at a fast and furious pace on the campus at NorthBay Medical Center in Fairfield, where a visitor welcome pavilion is taking shape. The modern, glass-and-steel structure is expected to be complete by December. It is the first visible piece of a $150 million modernization project at the hospital. Once the new pavilion opens, Emergency Services will expand into the old lobby space, gaining 31 new beds.

Next, work will begin on a three-story wing that will replace existing surgical suites, hospital cafeteria, Nutrition Services, Diagnostic Imaging and supply rooms. Also included are 22 new “patient rooms of the future” featuring the latest technology in health care, and 16 more post-acute care beds. The entire project is expected to take up to five years to complete.

Running for Tacos, PAL

More than 150 Team NorthBay members put on their black-and-white #NorthBay t-shirts and turned out in full force in early May to run, jog and walk in the second annual Cinco K Run & Taco Fiesta, a fundraiser for the Fairfield Police Activities League. NorthBay Healthcare was the event’s presenting sponsor, which drew nearly 700 participants; $20,000 was raised for PAL’s programs.

Team NorthBay also fielded the second-fastest runner in the event, Chris Dalton, an IT systems engineer, who had just run the Boston Marathon a couple of weeks earlier. The event started and ended at the Anheuser-Busch Visitors Center, and participants were treated to a beer garden experience complete with tacos. Next year’s Cinco K Run is tentatively scheduled for May 7, 2017.