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Moffitt's hope away from home
By JOSH ZIMMER, Times Staff Writer TAMPA -- After surgery for recurring skin cancer, Conrad Coen is preparing for his next phase of treatment at H. Lee Moffitt Cancer Center: a series of interferon shots, weeks of radiation and then more interferon. He hopes to be spared at least one other burden: the frequent 180-mile round trip between his Lake County home and Moffitt. A 40-suite lodging facility will open next to the cancer center in early June, providing cancer patients and their families a free place to stay while undergoing treatment. Called the Hope Lodge, the 47,000-square-foot building is the latest in a network of nationwide facilities offering free board under the direction of the American Cancer Society. Patients will have much better access to their doctors in a more caring environment, organizers say. Coen, 69, a retired Chrysler executive, wants to be one of the first to use it. "I'm very interested," he said Tuesday. "We talked with the social worker at the hospital. I'm going to be spending quite a bit of time there. I would be able to be around people like myself. I've been forewarned . . . to expect bad days." The $8.4-million lodge will join 18 others around the country, including two in Florida. One is in Miami. The other, a 47-suite building next to Shands at the University of Florida hospital in Gainesville, is the largest in the country. Moffitt's Hope Lodge has four floors, with one floor set aside for bone marrow transplant patients, whose depleted immune systems require a more sterile environment. The 11-suite floor, unique to this lodge, will mesh well with Moffitt, which runs the largest bone marrow program in the Southeast and one of the biggest in the nation. The facility, which also is open to patients from area hospitals, will run on a first-come, first-served basis. The pool of patients is huge, and directors anticipate the facility to operate at full capacity throughout the year. According to the cancer society, an estimated 70,000 patients from outside Hillsborough County annually receive cancer treatment in Tampa. The free lodging will relieve an often stressful monetary burden, said Donald Webster, chief executive officer of the society's Florida division. Patients pay for their own lodging at hotels or apartments. Although Moffitt offers apartments near the center, the monthly rent of about $1,000 puts another hit on patients' pocketbooks. The lodge also will offer cancer patients an opportunity to meet each other and share their experiences. "Not only does it help people financially," he said, "what's more important is the natural support system it creates for them." During her recent bone marrow transplant treatments, Jessica Oleski, 31, and her husband, Brian, lived at the apartments where they were interspersed among nonpatients. Without a central living area, they and other patients formed an informal patients' group in the clinic waiting room. Although his wife probably will be released before the lodge opens, Brian Oleski said he intends to tell a friend who needs a marrow transplant about the facility. "Obviously, it's going to be more effective," he said. According to lodge director Susan Rabel, patient stays vary from several days to six months or longer. But there won't be any time limits, she said. Workers and volunteers are putting the final touches on the building in preparation for the May 10 dedication. By design, the layout encourages patients to mix with one another, directors said. All floors have community and laundry rooms, including a TV room and a game room on the bottom floor. The kitchens should be focal points of lodge life, said Jill Rintoul, director of capital projects. At other lodges, patients bond over meals as they share stove, counter and refrigerator space while discussing the rigors of cancer treatment, Rintoul said. "This is really where the action will happen," she said. "You can go out to eat, order out. But you have to eat downstairs." Most of the cost of the building -- more than $7-million -- already has been raised from mostly local donations. One donor, the Giunta Family, contributed $100,000. Gloria Giunta, who survived breast cancer 21/2 years ago and served on the needs assessment committee, said patients deserve the convenience and support the lodge brings. "It's been a long time coming," she said. -- Josh Zimmer can be reached at (813) 269-5314.
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