Novant opens $166 million heart and cancer building, in latest hospital expansion move
Novant Health opened a new, seven-story building on the corner of Queens Road and Fourth Street this week — complete with the health system’s largest wellness facility.
The $166 million building combines all outpatient cardiac and cancer specialists, treatment services and support programs into one location, according to Novant.
The major facility opening arrives as both of Charlotte’s hospital systems have been chasing expansion across the state. Novant landed a critical approval this month in a $5 billion deal to purchase a Wilmington hospital, expanding services in southeastern North Carolina.
And rival Atrium Health, Charlotte’s largest health system, announced last week it had officially combined with Wake Forest Baptist Health, paving the way for Atrium’s plan to bring a four-year medical school to Charlotte.
Novant’s latest facility also offers a 18,000-square-foot wellness center, set up with locker rooms and exercise equipment, on the third floor, along with a clinic on the fifth floor that will host yoga and acupuncture. The goal is to integrate all aspects of health and wellness.
The first floor features a wig boutique for patients experiencing hair loss, a specialty pharmacy and a café with healthy food options.
The 260,000-square-foot Novant Health Claudia W. and John M. Belk Heart & Vascular Institute and Agnes B. And Edward I. Weisiger Cancer Institute opened for patients Monday.
The hospital system mapped out how long a patient may have needed to walk previously. From testing sites, to clinics to a treatment center, a patient may have walked 7,000 steps in one day, Novant cardiologist Dr. Gary Niess said.
Now, the cardiology exam rooms — doubled in number from the previous location on Novant’s Elizabeth-area campus — are on the same floor as the surgical center, bringing together 32 physicians treating heart and vascular diseases.
Similarly, the facility consolidates oncology offices, so cancer patients can go to one place for doctor’s visits, radiation oncology, operating rooms and chemotherapy infusions. Previously, those treatments and offices had been spread out over multiple blocks and multiple buildings, Novant medical oncologist Dr. Matt McDonald said.
“By bringing all of that here, patients literally have a home — meaning: ‘I know I’m going to that building,’ ” McDonald said. “...Every time they go, they know exactly where their doctor is.”
Over 400 donors, including Bank of America, were part of the fundraising process, bringing in $30 million for the facility, Novant Health Presbyterian Medical Center Foundation chief development officer Jennifer Clifford said Tuesday.
This story was originally published October 13, 2020 at 3:07 PM.
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