Video transcript
: Patient and community first, united effort, excellence in all we do—these are the three guiding principles of Huntsman Cancer Institute. And today as we open this wonderful expansion, the Kathryn F. Kirk Center for Comprehensive Cancer Care and Women's Cancers, we reflect on these core values. Patients who enter our doors will find a place of caring, a place of love, and also a place with leading-edge technologies and discoveries that ensure the best possible outcomes anywhere on the planet.
Sachin Apte, MD, MBA, MS: The Kathryn F. Kirk expansion allows us to truly take a holistic approach to treating patients with cancer, from our screening and mammography, to treatment, such as surgery or endoscopy. We also have a new Wellness and Integrative Health Center, which really helps us to take care of the patient as a whole. We're now able to serve more patients through the Mountain West than we've ever been able to before.
Cassidy Kotobalavu: We're really excited to open this new unit for our bone marrow transplant patients. Currently, we only have 25 beds in our existing hospital and that's to house both our beauty and our hematology patients. And with this new addition, it allows us to have 24 beds just dedicated to bone marrow transplant, and then 24 beds dedicated to hematology. So, it really opens things up to allow us to take care of more patients.
Shelley White, PhD: The Kathryn F. Kirk expansion of the Wellness and Integrative Health Center allows us to offer integrative oncology practices to our patients, our caregivers, and staff, including music therapy, nutrition, and group fitness.
Doug Stewart: This new edition is so nice because so much of it is centered around the caregiver. They've made it easier for the caregiver to be here, and to be a part of what's going on. And that is just so great.
Kathy Howa: It's just amazing that people can come from all over the world to get the best treatment. And I believe you get the best treatment right here in our hometown. And we are so lucky to have this at our backdoor.
Spencer Kirk: The Kathryn F. Kirk Center is possible only because of the significant community of generous donors who joined the Kirk family to make this remarkable facility a reality. I'd now like to take a minute to speak with you about my mother, Kathryn Fairbanks Kirk. Excelling in every endeavor, Kathryn was a talented musician, author, educator, church and community leader. Her powerful example, radiant personality, and irrepressible optimism inspired and lifted those around her. Devastatingly in 1984, we lost Kathryn to metastatic cancer. She was 57. On the first floor of this magnificent building is a tribute to Kathryn that concludes with the following. May all who enter through these doors find the hope they seek, be touched by the healing hands of God and lifted in body, mind, and spirit. Thank you.
Peter Huntsman: As I walked these hallowed grounds here earlier this morning, I walked past the foundation of these great buildings. The foundation I consider to be the most prominent of these buildings up here is when you walk between the lobby of the research building and the lobby of the hospital. And there alongside the sidewalk, are bricks with the names of those who have passed, many of whom have passed before us. This institution has made a difference. Mom, you and Dad made a difference. And so many of you have made a difference. To Spencer and to the Kirk family, thank you for lending us the name of a great and saintly woman. If she were not here, I genuinely think she would not permit this to take place. But this building deserves her name. And it deserves the name of every other woman in our society who has given hope, who's given compassion, and made society better than it otherwise would be. That's what this is all about, it’s to take those few years that we've got left and add quality, vibrancy, and life to those years.
Rebecca Cressman: Each morning I'd arrive for chemo infusion, or for radiation, and I'd drive that hour from my home, up the winding path here to the hospital and Institute. It’s giant mirrored walls reflecting the mountains and the valleys below, it became much more than a place of diagnosis and treatment. It became a symbol of strength, of protection, and compassionate care. It may appear to be made of bricks and mortar, and steel and glass, but to cancer survivors. It's a visible symbol of our collective hopes and dreams to live, to continue to live.
Mary Beckerle: We're now ready for our ribbon cuttings so I'm going to ask you, Karen, and several of our patients who have joined us to come down to the front of the room here for the ribbon cutting.