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Congressman Dan Maffei Visits Upstate Cancer Center Construction Site

Dan Maffei and Leslie Kohman
Darryl Geddes
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Upstate University Medical Center

Construction on the Upstate Cancer Research Center at University Hospital in Syracuse is rapidly taking shape. 

The center will have a variety of medical services in a centralized location.  Many services are already being offered, like a specialized psychologist, who works to help the emotional and psychological needs that cancer patients and families deal with, and an integrated medicine specialist, who advises patients on non-traditional therapies they may wish to add to their traditional treatment methods. 

Leslie Kohman, the Medical Director of the Upstate Center, mentioned a few of the alternative therapies offered:

When the center opens, it will house a resource center with a trained medical librarian, a meditation room, a Cancer Center Chaplain, community space for support groups to provide for the needs of cancer patients and their families, and a Healing Garden space. In addition, a new state-of-the-art targeted radiation machine (only the third of its kind to exist in the United States), new capabilities for prostate cancer screenings, and a clinical trial and research laboratory serve as  major attractions for the facility.

Dan Maffei tour
Credit Darryl Geddes / Upstate Medical Center
/
Upstate Medical Center
Congressman Dan Maffei tours the Upstate Cancer Center’s construction site

Kohman took Congressman Dan Maffei on a tour of the construction site Thursday.  He sees a possible way that Federal government can help the center’s research.

Upstate_Dan.mp3
Congressman Dan Maffei recommends a policy adjustment to grant facilities like the Upstate Cancer Center access to Social Security mortality records.

The Upstate Cancer Center is approaching its fundraising goal in its construction project, which is entirely self-funded, but still could use one final boost in donations.  The new building will open next summer.

John Smith has been waking up WAER listeners for a long time as our Local Co-Host of Morning Edition with timely news and information, working alongside student Sportscasters from the Newhouse School.
Scott Willis covers politics, local government, transportation, and arts and culture for WAER. He came to Syracuse from Detroit in 2001, where he began his career in radio as an intern and freelance reporter. Scott is honored and privileged to bring the day’s news and in-depth feature reporting to WAER’s dedicated and generous listeners. You can find him on twitter @swillisWAER and email him at srwillis@syr.edu.
Hannah vividly remembers pulling up in the driveway with her mom as a child and sitting in the car as it idled with the radio on, listening to Ira Glass finish his thought on This American Life. When he reached a transition, it was a wild race out of the car and into the house to flip on the story again and keep listening. Hannah’s love of radio reporting has stuck with her ever since.