More than a treatment center, the McCreery Cancer Center at Ottumwa Regional Health Center is a resource center for patients and their families in which they will find not only the most up-to-date treatments, but also an environment of compassionate care. The McCreery Cancer Center lies on the North side of Ottumwa Regional Health Center. It is distinguished from the rest of the hospital by its large protective awning and all of the windows that allow sunlight into its interior. Here, patients and their families will find an environment designed for healing. A courtyard provides a place to enjoy fresh air and the radiation therapy vault offers a beautiful overhead skyscape of trees and sunlight.

The center is named on behalf of Roland and Arloine McCreery, long-time residents of Ottumwa who saw a need and responded with a very generous financial gift that would insure that friends, neighbors and loved ones in the region would be able to receive life sustaining cancer treatment without having to travel to Des Moines, Iowa City or Columbia, MO.

The Oncology program at Ottumwa Regional is certified by the Commission on Cancer of the American College of Surgeons. Approximately 20% of all hospitals in the U.S. have this certification and ORHC is the only certified program in Southeast Iowa. The center also provides area for support groups and educational sessions of up to 30 people as well as a small conference room for the Cancer Program's monthly meetings, and small groups such as the American Cancer Society's "Look Good, Feel Better."

The Chemotherapy Infusion Center can accommodate eight patients at a time with as much or little privacy as the patient chooses, and it has added touches of comfort with individual televisions, music, and a guest area. In radiation therapy, technology is on the cutting edge, but the environment is designed to calm and reduce the stress of the patient.

Since the mid-twentieth century, when a diagnosis of cancer usually amounted to a death sentence, many cancers have become much more controllable. In the U.S., the National Cancer Institute's goal of five year survival in more than 50% of cancer cases has been achieved. This is due in no small measure, to major advances in radiation oncology - now used either alone or in combination with other therapies to treat up to 60% of all cancer patients in the U.S.