Upstate News

Names of individuals touched by cancer decorate a steel beam to be used in the construction of the Upstate Cancer Center. Color markers represent the different cancers. The 600-pound beam, currently on display in the lobby of Upstate University Hospital, will be hoisted into place in March atop the cancer center as one of the last pieces of steel in the building’s construction.

Twenty-four local junior high school students spent the recent winter break learning about the medical field by taking part in hands-on workshops conducted at Upstate University Hospital’s Community Campus, as part of the annual MASH Camp, which is sponsored in part by Upstate, Central New York Area Health Education Center and Excellus BlueCross BlueShield. The camp allows students to explore the health professions before they begin selecting high school course work.

Upstate officials brought another steel beam from the Upstate Cancer Center project into the lobby of Upstate University Hospital so individuals who are cancer survivors or have been touched by cancer can sign their name on the beam. Another beam was completely covered in signatures shortly after it was put on display last month. Both beams will be hoisted into place later this month.

A 280-foot crane, with the ability to lift 200 tons, towers over downtown Syracuse as work continues on the Upstate Cancer Center, off East Adams Street. The center will be five-stories tall and house all of Upstate’s outpatient cancer services—pediatric and adult—under one roof. It will feature 27 private infusion areas, four-season rooftop healing gardens, meditation room, family resource center, multidisciplinary practice locations, private space for genetic, financial and other counseling services, a boutique for patient apparel and other personal products and three linear accelerator rooms.

Upstate Medical University’s fourth-year College of Medicine students learned where they will spend their first year of training, known as residency, in their chosen specialty. Established in 1952 by the National Resident Matching Program, Match Day provides an orderly and fair way to match applicants with available positions.

Connor Licamele, pediatric cancer survivor, took one final look at the signed beam before it was hoisted into the air and placed atop the Upstate Cancer Center. When completed, the Upstate Cancer Center will encompass more than 90,000 square feet dedicated to cancer care for children and adults and feature 27 private infusion rooms, a four-season rooftop garden, mediation rooms and a family resource center. The Upstate Cancer Center is slated to open in May 2014.

Upstate students planted shining blue pinwheels in the courtyard at Weiskotten Hall as part of National Child Abuse Prevention Month’s Pinwheels for Prevention campaign. Students also raised money for the McMahon/Ryan Child Advocacy Center.

Spring has finally arrived in the courtyard of Upstate Medical University’s Weiskotten Hall.

The Upstate Cancer Center received a $250,000 grant from SEFCU, one of the largest credit unions in upstate New York. The donation will fund a portion of the Vero SBRT (Stereotactic Body Radiotherapy system) for advanced patient treatments.

New York Assemblyman Richard Gottfried, center, who represents midtown Manhattan and chairs the Assembly’s Health Committee, meets with Upstate University Hospital CEO John McCabe, MD, left, and Dan Hurley, Upstate’s assistant vice president of government relations, outside the entrance to the Upstate Golisano Children’s Hospital May 2. Gottfried’s visit to campus includes a tour of the hospital and talks with McCabe and other officials on public hospitals.