The Comprehensive Cancer Center of Maui will provide radiation and chemotherapy as well as a place for patients to fight off cancer with other means including yoga, massage therapy and acupuncture.

Also of importance is the cancer center's potential to serve as a Neighbor Island satellite for national cancer clinical trials and research projects, as well as an information center for oncology treatment and support of patients and their families.

"All of a sudden this dream is becoming a reality," said Amy Kastens, executive director of Pacific Cancer Foundation, the Maui nonprofit that has a key role in encouraging the partnership for the new cancer center.

"My God, we are going to have a comprehensive cancer center on Maui. It's an incredible, amazing feeling," Kastens said.

Pacific Cancer Institute of Maui's partner in the cancer center venture is Hawaii Pacific Health, the system overseeing health care facilities around the islands including Straub Clinic & Hospital, Wilcox Hospital on Kauai and the Kapiolani Medical Center for Women & Children in Honolulu.

"Cancer care on Maui is good. We would like to be involved in making it great," said Dr. Virginia "Ginny" Pressler, a general surgeon and senior vice president of Hawaii Pacific Health. "It's a very exciting venture, and we're pleased to participate."

Sharing the joy over the new project is the Pacific Cancer Institute of Maui's founder, radiation oncologist Dr. Bobby Baker. He and his partners officially opened up a checking account last week.

"This is exciting for us because we are continuing to advance health care in the community," Baker said.

He said the time was ripe to move out of the limited space attached to Maui Memorial Medical Center and into a new building that's more equipped to accommodate cancer patients and their families.

The partnership with Hawaii Pacific Health was the right fit, Baker said. The medical service group already is giving support with a medical oncologist who travels to Maui on a regular basis to help with the load of cancer cases here.

The Pacific Cancer Foundation, with help from various agencies including Hawaii Pacific Health, has been coordinating Maui patient participation in clinical trials plus supporting the travel of the Oahu-based specialists who assist in providing cancer treatment at the Maui facility.

The foundation will be provided space in the new cancer center to expand its services and to coordinate the alternative medicine offerings and support services for cancer patients and their families.

"The foundation brings in the comprehensive part in the cancer center," Kastens said.

Baker said he was especially interested in the partnership because of Hawaii Pacific Health's working relationship with the Cancer Research Center of Hawaii, an affiliate of the University of Hawaii at Manoa and the hub of cancer clinical trials for the entire state.

UH plans to invest some $300 million in a new medical research center in Kakaako on Oahu, giving the Cancer Research Center of Hawaii expanded space and state-of-the-art equipment.

Dr. Carl-Wilhelm Vogel of the Cancer Research Center of Hawaii said he's not personally involved with the Maui project and has not seen its plans. However, Vogel said initial talks with Baker and Kastens have opened the possibility of developing another partnership that brings new clinical trials and experimental drugs to interested Valley Isle patients.

"Absolutely (Maui) could be a satellite for us. We're not going to be Oahu-centric," Vogel said.

Groundbreaking on a new cancer research center on Oahu is about 12 months away, and construction is estimated to take another year and a half. Vogel said his first choice for Maui cancer patients would be to have them receive treatment on their island, including options to participate in clinical trials and use of experimental drugs through a partnership with the Comprehensive Cancer Center of Maui.

"When you have cancer, you want to be close to your home, your family," he said. "We recognize that, and we want to support that."

Pressler said Hawaii Pacific Health also supports the idea of providing Maui patients more access to participation in clinical trials and research projects on treating cancer.

"We would want the local people on Maui to participate in that," she said.

Baker and his new partners also plan to bring new cancer treatment equipment to Maui including the Positive Emission Topography Scan, also known as PET Scan.

The device detects cancer in areas of the body that conventional equipment might miss. The machine also probes a tumor's growth and helps physicians determine the effects of different options in treating a patient.

A certificate of need application to obtain the $3 million PET Scan has been filed with the State Health Planning and Development Agency.

Baker said SHPDA has already granted an administrative certificate of need to the Pacific Cancer Institute of Maui to build the new $5 million cancer center.

Target date of completion is the end of 2008.

The move out of Maui Memorial Medical Center reflects a need for more space, according to Baker.

"This is not abandonment. This is expansion," he said.

The Pacific Cancer Institute of Maui treats an average of 35 cancer patients a day, 95 percent of whom are hospital outpatients, according to Baker. Having a facility away from the already crowded Maui Memorial complex will ease access for outpatients.

Still, Pacific Cancer Institute of Maui will maintain its radiation treatment services at the hospital for inpatients and to serve as a backup to the new cancer center in Kahului. Pressler said Hawaii Pacific Health intends to involve Maui Memorial in Comprehensive Cancer Center projects, although protocols for any collaboration have yet to be developed.

Maui Memorial Chief Executive Officer Wesley Lo said he's open to negotiating a collaboration for the use of the space vacated by Pacific Cancer Institute and for the hospital's role at the new cancer center.

"Our goal is to get the best patient care here for Maui residents," Lo said. "We want to have a consolidated approach that provides for the entire community."

While he would have wanted the hospital to be an integral partner in developing the new cancer center, he said a shortage of money and space on Maui Memorial grounds limited the possibilities.

"I clearly understand there's timings; there's all kinds of factors involved," he said.