NIU moves on with plans for proton therapy center
Anticipating a meeting next month with state funding officials, Northern Illinois University is moving ahead with architectural designs of its 115,000-square foot proton therapy cancer treatment facility in West Chicago.
The $159 million project would be one of the first tenants of the DuPage National Technology Park south of DuPage Airport. Funding has not yet been secured for the facility. The Illinois Finance Authority meets with university officials Nov. 11 to decide whether to allow bonds to be sold to finance the project. More than $7 million in federal grants have already been secured for the project and U.S. Rep. Bill Foster announced another $6 million for the facility Friday.
The proposed facility's executive director John Lewis said the current economic crisis shouldn't hinder financing plans.
When built, it will be a glass and steel structure with some environmentally friendly features, Lewis said.
Inside the building there would be four treatment rooms. Each with a cozy waiting room equipped with plush couches and a fireplace, according to the renderings shown Friday.
Lewis said there would be a special area set aside to handle pediatric cancer cases.
"There is a different door for kids to enter and leave through and there is a playroom as well," Lewis said.
While studies have shown limited differences between proton therapy and traditional cancer treatment, many medical experts agree that the proton treatments are best for pediatric cases. Unlike traditional radiation therapy where the entire body is exposed, proton treatments beam a concentrated amount of radiation to a specific cancer-stricken area of the human body. The side effects are minimalized, doctors say.
Lewis said the facility will employ somewhere between 30 to 40 people initially, but upwards of 100 when the research component comes online two years later.
NIU was locked in a fierce fight with Central DuPage Hospital and ProCure Treatment Centers over plans to build a second proton therapy facility in neighboring Warrenville. State regulators approved the second site last month.
ProCure CEO Hadley Ford said they have already lined up private and legally bound financing. He added that even though initial lender Fortis Bank was recently swallowed up by the French bank BNP Paribas, it makes the deal more secure.
"There are no issues or concerns for us," Ford said. "It makes me sleep a lot better at night when the largest bank in the Euro zone has a legally binding commitment."