(SitNews) Ketchikan, Alaska - Several dozen people packed the new first floor hallway that connects Ketchikan Medical Center with the Medical Office Building Thursday for the opening of the Cornelia “Pinky” Brindle Cancer Resource Center.

Former Ketchikan mayor Lew Williams and his wife Vicki cut the ribbon to officially open the space.  Lew, who is being treated for cancer at KMC, talked about the importance of having a place to get reliable information, “whatever you do, don’t go google “cancer” on the internet. It won’t be helpful”.

The Center will be staffed by infusion suite nurses and volunteers who can provide reliable cancer education information and answer questions. The Center will have supplies, like wigs and scarves, and locally made quilts to provide comfort during chemotherapy.

The staff at the Center will provide other help and support to cancer patients and their families including assisting with travel coordination, infusion schedules, appointments and supplies. KMC will partner with the First City Council on Cancer to help link outside services with those offered within PeaceHealth.

CAO Ed Freysinger welcomed those attending and Chaplain Margie Adams provided a prayer. Foundation President Joe Williams also spoke and drummed and sang a Tlingit healing song.

Foundation Director Matt Eisenhower talked about the donation made to the KMC Foundation that established the Center. “Through the generosity of the Brindle family, we are able to now provide this resource room for the community.”

Pinky Brindle, the wife of Alec Brindle whose family owned a cannery in Ward Cove, died in 2008 after a five-year struggle with lung cancer. The family’s $100,000 donation made the Center possible.

“Ketchikan is an important part of our family legacy,” said Alec Brindle Jr. when the gift in memory of his mother was announced in 2017. “This donation is our attempt to, in a small way, help the community where we have, over the years, had many great experiences and made many friends.”

PeaceHealth Ketchikan Medical Center, a 25-bed Critical Access Hospital, is also a Level IV Trauma Center for an area roughly twice the size of Massachusetts. Key services include general and orthopedic surgery, and primary, women’s health, pediatric, and behavioral health clinics. The Medical Center also has a 29-bed Transitional Care Unit.

Source of News:

PeaceHealth Ketchikan Medical Center
www.peacehealth.org/ketchikan

 

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