Construction Starts on $20 Million NEA Baptist Center for Cancer Care

The 34,000-SF center will feature all of its cancer care services under one roof - from diagnosis to chemotherapy treatments to radiation to support.

NEA Baptist Health System of Jonesboro is holding a groundbreaking Thursday for its more than $20 million NEA Baptist Center for Cancer Care.

The 34,000-SF center will feature all of its cancer care services under one roof – from diagnosis to chemotherapy treatments to radiation to support, according to a NEA Baptist news release.

The center will be built on NEA’s 80-acre medical campus that includes a five-story, 550,000-SF, 181-bed hospital and a 213,000-SF physicians office building. The construction value of the hospital and office building is $165.5 million.

All three buildings are expected to be completed in the summer of 2013. 

The Cancer Care "project on our new medical campus combines the oncology and radiation therapy services, along with other areas of the hospital and clinic to add yet another dimension of integrated health care, but this time, it is focused entirely on the treatment of cancer," Paul Betz, administrator and CEO of NEA Baptist Memorial Hospital, said in a news release.

Cancer Care building was designed by the architectural firm Earl Swensson Associates Inc. of Nashville, Tenn., and features a circular tower that will be the home of HopeCircle. HopeCircle is an NEA Baptist Charitable Foundation program that supports patients and their families who have been diagnosed with an illness such as cancer.