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SPOTLIGHT:
University of Florida Proton Therapy Institute
It was late 2001 and Dick Gilreath, senior project manager, was placed in charge of a major project that would shape the future of cancer treatment in the Southeast.
Gilreath, along with Doug Schulte, project manager, and Denny Joyce, project superintendent, worked hard to make this long-awaited project a reality.
The University of Florida's Proton Therapy Institute (UFPTI) is a $30 million ($125 million overall with equipment), 98,000 sq. ft. facility designed to provide conventional radiation cancer treatment and proton therapy in a hospital setting, and features on-treatment evaluation of cancer patients, planning suites, an infusion and anesthesia suite, psychosocial and dietary services, a research office, and faculty offices. At capacity, the facility can treat up to 200 patients.
Currently, UFPTI is one of only several proton therapy facilities operating in the nation, and the only proton therapy facility in the Southeast. This proved to be quite a challenge for the construction team, as they had to travel to Boston, Mass., to view the nearest operating facility to see just what they were about to get themselves in to.
“After four years and many hours of midnight oil burnt, all the effort was worth it,” says Gilreath. “Not only from the business aspect, but the impact this facility will have on individuals with cancer.”
When Proton Therapy was first suggested by Dr. Robert Wilson in 1946, he clearly understood the advantages of proton therapy over traditional radiation therapy. Since that time, researchers and clinicians have understood his premise but were not able to fully exploit protons' potential benefit, as they could not adequately pinpoint a tumor's specific location in the body. The development of more sophisticated imaging opened the door for proton therapy, since it allowed radiation oncologists to precisely direct the protons used in treatment.
This amount of precision and technology came at a price, though. During construction of this facility, over 1,000 requests for information (RFI's) were written between the construction and design teams to be certain this important project was built without error and finished on schedule.
“I was fortunate to be involved with a [construction] project team that was as skilled, dedicated, and as personally committed as Dick and Denny,” said A. Miles Albertson, project manager for the University of Florida. “This project presented hurdles at every stage and these two individuals found ways to clear them.”
The award-winning project was one of the most challenging in Perry-McCall's history, and has raised the bar in medical construction throughout the Southeast.
“I'm fortunate to have been chosen as part of this team to bring this cutting-edge technology to our area,” said Gilreath.
The entire project team received their greatest award when UFPTI's first patient was treated in August 2006, proving that all the hard work was definitely worth it in the end.
FUN FACTS:
UFPTI features...
· Eighteen-inch thick concrete floors.
· The thickest concrete wall is over 18 feet.
· Largest concrete pour was 1,300 yards (that's 5.1 million pounds of concrete).
· 17,407 cubic yards of concrete were poured (that's enough to fill 5.5 Olympic-sized swimming pools).
· Forty truck loads of rebar were used, equaling 980 tons of the reinforcing steel rods.
· Largest piece of precast concrete weighed in at 66,000 pounds.
· Over 12 miles of electrical conduit was placed in the facility. |
