CARTI CEO explains plans for cancer center using $7 million in new funding
CARTI announced last week that it has secured funding through the American Rescue Plan Act (ARPA) to finalize the development of its comprehensive cancer center in El Dorado.
The $7 million in funding, the company said at the time through a press release, will help to complete PHASE 2 in the construction of its $19 million comprehensive cancer center in El Dorado. The Carti Cancer Center opened in December 2021 in El Dorado, according to previous News-Times reporting, and currently provides services including medical oncology and PET imaging services.
Thanks to the round of federal funding, the center will be able expand its services even further, according to Adam Head, CARTI President and CEO, who led a News-Times reporter on a tour through the currently-operating portion of the facility and the shell of the expansion on Tuesday.
“We knew we were going to do it in phases. The first phase was medical oncology - primary care cancer treatment - which is what we already had in the clinic space that we moved from… We also have an infusion space, which is where patients get chemotherapy, and we added imaging, so we have a PET scanner here,” Head said.
Phase II will result in an approximately 7,000 sq. feet expansion that will add add several new features to the center. The shell of the expansion already exists, and Head said that the company’s next step is securing a contractor for work through a bidding process. A tentative start date to have the new expansion and additional services up and running is early 2025.
One substantial new upgrade within the expanded facility will be the addition of radiation oncology.
“Roughly 30 to 40% of patients who have a solid tumor and cancer diagnosis can benefit from radiation oncology. We haven’t had that in this location — that’s one of the biggest adds,” Head said.
“Radiation oncology requires a big vault, a million pounds of concrete, and you put in a linear accelerator… We will be able to have that,” Head said.
Another addition will be a full breast center focused on breast cancer treatment, including screening, diagnostics and more.
Other new additions include an MRI (magnetic resonance imaging) machine and more treatment rooms.
“The really cool thing is our mission is to make trusted cancer care accessible. We understand patients and families will drain their bank accounts if they have the ability to, to be able to go to someone they trust whether it’s in state or out of state… A few years ago we decided that we don’t even want patients to have to drive to Little Rock, so we started decentralizing and setting up community based comprehensive care centers,” he said.
CARTI tracks cancer rates in its areas of coverage, he said, and the company noted that south Arkansas was particularly in need of comprehensive care.
“We believe if we have a hub like this can serve all of south Arkansas and north Louisiana, we’re creating trust and accessibility, and then patients are more apt to get screenings, and its easier to get off work and not create a burden on a family, and that in turn makes patients have more of a chance of catching it at Stage 1 or Stage 2,” he said.
Head said that the center is designed to be welcoming for patients and their families.
“Cancer is a journey… Patients are coming in week after week, sometimes day after day, so creating an inviting space — you can go to our front desk and have access to all these different services, which lets us take stress out of the cancer journey,” Head said.
“It makes it easier to navigate and takes out some of the complexity.”
The infusion suite, where patients go to receive chemotherapy, is particularly striking. Patients sit in loungestyle chairs, which are set up in individual areas with other chairs set up facing them for friends and family members, in a open floorplan area with natural light.
“Patients come here and spend four, five, six hours at a time. All the chairs are heated infusion chairs, which is really cool, and creates some comfort,” Head said.
Other current capabilities in the center are an in-house lab and a licensed pharmacy.
Head said the ARPA funding was secured through state-level work; the company has locations throughout Arkansas.
“[These are] federal dollars distributed to each state to be able to use, a lot after the effects of COVID. A number has gone to healthcare entities. As we were looking at our locations, where the biggest need was, we kept coming back to El Dorado. We wanted to initiate more services in this location since we opened,” he said.
“I do want to note — we’re incredibly grateful to Governor [Sarah Huckabee] Sanders, Speaker Matthew Shepherd, Senate president pro tempore Bart Hester, and the entire General Assembly for them believing in this project,” he added.