When it was created four years ago, the Fuller Cancer Center in Ringgold offered a new location for cancer treatment patients in North Georgia and Chattanooga. The center’s vision has evolved from its inception and an expansion has created a level of patient care that hospital officials say is unique to the region.

Charles Stewart, president and CEO of Hutcheson, said the vision for the center is centered around three goals.

The first goal is to provide cancer services in one central location.

The next is to find the best team of medical professionals to provide those services. Those professionals needed include radiation oncologists, medical oncologists, radiologists, surgeons, pathologists, nurses and other professional staff.

The last goal is to provide “the most patient-centered care available,” Stewart said.

“The newly completed renovation and an expansion of services at the center will allow us to accomplish all three of these goals,” he said.

The reason for the expansion, Stewart said, is because cancer care is “very fragmented.”

“A patient is first sent to a location for a diagnostic test such as a mammogram,” he said. “If a problem is detected, the patient is then referred to another location for surgery. If chemotherapy is required, the patient is sent to another location, and if radiation therapy is required, the patient must go yet to another location. Hutcheson has literally removed all of these barriers and located every service needed under one roof for the patient.”

According to Stewart, the expansion will relocate Hutcheson’s chemotherapy services from the hospital’s main campus to the Fuller Cancer Center building at Hutcheson on the Parkway and will add a new patient resource center.

The new Chemotherapy Suite, funded from a donation from the Hutcheson Health Foundation, focuses on patient comfort and convenience. This addition incorporates nature into the healing process. Patients will receive treatments in a relaxed setting which looks on to a landscaped courtyard.

The new Ashley Jewell Cancer Resource Center will provide a location for patients and families to receive educational information about cancer diagnosis, treatment and recovery in a beautifully designed home-like setting.

The Hutcheson on the Parkway campus houses the new chemotherapy suite, two groups of medical oncologists, radiation oncologists at the Fuller Cancer Center, diagnostic imaging at Battlefield Imaging, the Auxiliary Breast Center, the Hutcheson Surgery Center, the new Ashley Jewell Cancer Resource Center and onsite laboratory, pathology and pharmacy services.

The treatment team consists of the area’s most outstanding professionals working together for the best patient outcomes, officials said.

Radiation therapy at the Fuller Cancer Center is provided by Harbin Clinic Radiation Oncologists Drs. Matt Mumber, James Santoro and John Abdou.

Dr. Mumber, the medical director of the center, is known statewide for his commitment to the patient. He has been involved in leadership positions with the Georgia Cancer Coalition and its partners for many years. He is a board member of the Georgia Center for Oncology Research and Education (Georgia CORE); chairman of the Northwest Georgia Regional Cancer Coalition; and a member of the board of directors of the Georgia Society of Clinical Oncology. Dr. Mumber was the 2008 recipient of the Georgia Cancer Coalition Hamilton Jordan Founder’s Award.

Dr. Mumber speaks throughout the country on integrative oncology and, in 2006 he published the textbook “Integrative Oncology: Principles and Practice,” which explores a comprehensive evidence-based approach to cancer care, addressing all individuals involved in the process.

Medical oncology is provided on the Parkway campus by Drs. Davey Daniel, Edward Arrowsmith and Darrell Johnson of Chattanooga Oncology. Dr. John McCravey of University Oncology, who has practiced in North Georgia for many years, recently located his office to the Fuller Cancer Center facility also.

The physicians with Diagnostic Radiology Consultants provide the radiology services at Battlefield Imaging, a joint partnership of Hutcheson’s, with John Nelson, MD, serving as medical director of the Auxiliary Breast Center. Battlefield Imaging, the only fully digital imaging center in the area, provides the latest in most advanced technology available in the area with PET/CT, MRI and mammography.

Also serving patients who need surgery are general surgeons Drs. Daniel Heithold, Thomas Gilmore and Andrew Lovette. The care provided by the various physicians and professional staff at the center is coordinated by a nurse navigator.