Bridgeport Hospital recently broke ground for a new comprehensive, satellite outpatient cancer center at 5520 Park Avenue in Trumbull.

The center is to be known as the Norma F. Pfriem Cancer Institute Park Avenue Campus and it is centrally located near the Bridgeport, Easton and Fairfield lines, the statement said.

Among those who took part in the groundbreaking ceremony were Trumbull First Selectman Timothy Herbst, U.S. Rep. Jim Himes, Bridgeport Hospital President & CEO William Jennings, Co-Medical Directors of the hospital’s Norma F. Pfriem Cancer Institute Drs. Robert Folman and Scott Thornton,and hospital Chief of Radiation Oncology Dr. Sheida Mani, the statement said.

"A new 10,000-square foot building for radiation oncology and other services will be constructed next to an existing medical building at the site that houses medical and surgical oncology services provided by physicians associated with Bridgeport Hospital, including chemotherapy, a laboratory draw station and patient support programs," the statement said.

In the photo, pictured at the groundbreaking, from left, are Bridgeport Hospital Chairman of Medicine Dr. Nicholas Dainiak, Norma F. Pfriem Cancer Institute Co-Medical Director Dr. Robert Folman, hospital President & CEO William Jennings, Trumbull First Selectman Timothy Herbst, Norma F. Pfriem Cancer Institute Co-Medical Director Dr. Scott Thornton, hospital Chief of Radiation Medicine Dr. Sheida Mani, radiation oncologist Dr. Bruce McGibbon, Congressman Jim Himes, project developer Phil DiGennaro and hospital Senior Vice President of Planning & Marketing Lyn Salsgiver.

The new building is expected to open in the fall 2011.

“With the completion of the new building, we will, in effect, create a full suburban campus for the Norma F. Pfriem Cancer Institute,” Folman said at the ceremony, the statement said.

Bridgeport Hospital’s outpatient radiation oncology services will relocate from their current location at 15 Corporate Drive in the northern part of Trumbull to be closer to the Merritt Parkway and I-95, the statement said.

“Once open, this new site will give our patients upgraded surroundings and technology and more convenient access to care in a suburban setting,” Mani said in the statement.

The project will include installation of a state-of-the-art linear accelerator that will provide a wide range of advanced radiation therapy services, including Intensity-Modulated Radiation Therapy, Image-Guided Radiation Therapy and Stereotactic Radiosurgery, the statement said.

Bridgeport Hospital’s radiation oncologists, including Mani and Drs. Bruce McGibbon and Suzanne Evans, are expert physicians from the Yale School of Medicine and Yale Cancer Center, the statement said.

They will see patients in Trumbull as well as at Bridgeport Hospital, the statement said.

“Bridgeport Hospital and the Norma F. Pfriem Cancer Institute are committed to providing a full array of outpatient services in the communities we serve, coupled with the very best inpatient services at Bridgeport Hospital,” Jennings said while presiding over his first groundbreaking ceremony as the hospital’s president & CEO, the statement said. “We will continue to provide the latest and greatest in cancer treatments, as well as comfort and hope, to our patients.”

The Norma F. Pfriem Cancer Institute at Bridgeport Hospital provides care to more than 1,000 newly-diagnosed cancer patients annually, more than any other hospital in Fairfield County, the statement said.

The hospital is a member of the Yale-New Haven Cancer Network, an alliance of hospitals across Connecticut that provides access to the latest breakthroughs and delivers an unparalleled level of expertise in cancer, prevention, diagnosis and treatment the statement said.

Editor's note: The information and photo in this post were provided wholly by Bridgeport Hospital.