New cancer care center to open in Berlin

A new cancer care center operated through Atlantic General Hospital ('AGH') is heading to Worcester County.

The new John H. "Jack" Burbage, Jr. Regional Cancer Care Center is named after Jack Burbage, Jr., a Berlin resident and major supporter AGH.

"Everyone of us needs to be a part of this center, and reason is that all of us have been touched by cancer," Burbage said a groundbreaking ceremony Wednesday. "Our friends, our people we know…in some way or form, and it's effected their lives daily."

The 18,000 square-foot center will be located at the corner of Route 113 and Route 346. Outpatient chemotherapy and pet scans are just a few of the services it'll provide. 

Construction costs total around nine million dollars.

AGH president Michael Franklin tells 47ABC, cancer rates in Maryland and Delaware are higher than the U.S. average. He says more than 750 new cancer cases are diagnosed in Worcester, Somerset and Southeast Sussex counties each year.

This is something the center will try to combat through its telemedicine services.

"They can be virtually available with us, with our patient, with our staff in developing the treatment plan in the room and developing the treatment plan here without having to travel to other places to develop that treatment plan so we can save a lot of time and a lot of travel," explains Franklin.

Their ultimate goal is to better serve residents in need of healthcare services.

"This is something I think that, as a community, we will share the success as we go into many, many years moving forward," says AGH Board of Trustees chair Lou Taylor.