Making a Difference in Cancer Care: P1 Completes AdventHealth Cancer Institute Project

This spring, AdventHealth Shawnee Mission in Merriam, KS, unveiled its $76 million, 71,000-square-foot Cancer Institute, designed to provide unparalleled cancer care services to the community.

P1 Construction completed the mechanical scope for both the Cancer Center and the center’s outpatient lobby, including construction and off-site construction.

The AdventHealth Cancer Institute offers a wide range of services - including the only MRI-Guided Radiation Therapy in the region – along with physician clinics, CT and PET scans, infusion, radiation, on-site laboratory testing, and a world-class diagnostic breast center.

Of particular interest is the Elekta linear accelerator, the first and only MRI-guided radiation therapy in the Kansas City region and one of only a few in the entire United States.

This technology combines MRI imaging to pinpoint exact tumor location during treatment, which allows for more accurate treatment, fewer radiation treatments, and fewer side effects overall. The imaging technology allows for the lasers to pause and re-position if the patient/tumor moves at all during treatment.

Project Engineer Kyler True says P1 is proud to do work that supports life-saving therapies like those housed at the Advent Cancer Clinic – which can also come with very specific requirements.

“P1 installed an HVAC system that uses pressure-independent control valves for the cleanroom pharmacy that makes chemotherapy drugs,” he said. “This required extra coordination to ensure the system is exactly balanced.”

P1 also installed chillers that serve two LINAC (linear accelerator) vaults for cancer screenings, along with medical gas piping throughout the building that serves multiple operating rooms and treatment areas.
In addition to the Cancer Institute, P1 worked on the outpatient lobby for the Institute.

“The challenge here, as with many hospital projects, was completing the project while the hospital was still operating,” Kyler said.

“The lobby was therefore built in multiple phases to allow the hospital to still operate, and this required extra detailing and coordination efforts by the foreman.”

Congratulations to the project team on another successful project for AdventHealth. 

Project Quick Facts

• Cancer Institute + Outpatient Lobby Contract Value: $8,140,000
• P1 Performed: Detailing + Coordination; Controls; Pipe, Plumbing and Sheet Metal Fabrication; HVAC, Plumbing, and Sheet Metal Construction
  
  
• PROJECT TEAM:
  Project Manager: Mark McGrath
  Project Engineer: Kyler True
  Foremen: Will Wall, Dave Wright, Rob Downing, Jake Bartow, Eric Carrillo, Dennis Nourse
  Engineer: Henderson Engineers
  Architect: Hoefer Walker

More about the AdventHealth Cancer Institute Shawnee Mission:

• The facility includes an HDR (High-Dose Radiation) Brachytherapy treatment vault which is used to treat prostate, cervical, and head/neck cancers.
• The 71,000 sq ft building has the capacity to expand three more floors, along with potential to add a third LINAC vault.
• Services include physician clinics, CT and PET scans, infusion, radiation, laboratory, and rehabilitation.
• The Institute will have its own stand-alone compounding pharmacy for chemotherapy infusion treatments, and will also specialize in breast cancer, colon cancer, gynecologic cancer, prostate head and neck cancers, skin cancers, and lung cancer.