Early in the fall of 2005, in late September, a group of local officials, various health care professionals, and well-wishers joined the leaders of Central Michigan Community Hospital to mark the opening of the Norval K. Morey Cancer Center, an accomplishment that brought an exceptional level of cancer care to Mount Pleasant, increasing the accessibility of potentially life-saving care to the community.
At the time, hospital leaders cited this expansion as offering “world-class cancer care right here in central Michigan,” benefitting patients battling cancer, allowing them an advantage in their fight while remaining close to their homes, near loved ones and their support system.
While some things have changed in those 20 years since that day — many hospital leaders and providers have retired, CMCH has become McLaren Central Michigan, and the Morey Cancer Center has joined the Karmanos Cancer Network — but the commitment of providing the patients of Mount Pleasant with first-rate cancer care remains stronger than ever, having care for thousands of patients.
“Looking back on the past 20 years, we see a cancer center that has offered healing, hope, and one that brought innovation to Mount Pleasant,” said Nancy King, Regional Director of Cancer Services at McLaren Central Michigan. “This facility has become a beacon of hope for thousands of patients and their families, and as we stop to look back, we also look to the future and continuing our unwavering commitment to support and fight alongside every patient seeking our care.”
Through McLaren Health Care’s acquisition of the Karmanos Cancer Institute in 2014, McLaren Central Michigan has become part of the statewide Karmanos Cancer Network, the largest cancer network in Michigan, anchored by the world-renown Karmanos Cancer Institute in Detroit. Through this network, patients of the Karmanos Cancer Institute at McLaren Central Michigan, along with oncologists and other providers, receive the advantage of the knowledge and experience of their colleagues throughout the state in service of their patients. Patients can also gain admission into clinical trials, undergoing tomorrow’s cancer treatments today.
And while benefitting from the depth of expertise throughout the state, the Karmanos Cancer Institute at McLaren Central Michigan expanded its own care offerings, adding advanced pieces of clinical technology, such as a TruBeam linear accelerator for radiation therapies, and by adding several oncologists to serve full time in Mount Pleasant, as well as a nursing staff having earned an advanced oncology certification through the Oncology Nursing Society.
The original task of establishing a cancer center in Mount Pleasant was an accomplishment shared amongst the community, as the Morey Foundation and Isabella Bank, among other local organizations, along with countless hospital staff members at the time, donated to the fund that made this facility and expansion of service a reality.
Learn more about cancer care at the Karmanos Cancer Institute at McLaren Central Michigan at karmanos.org/centralmichigan.
About McLaren Central Michigan
McLaren Central Michigan is a 118-bed acute care hospital located in Mount Pleasant, Michigan. It offers a full range of health and wellness services including primary care, general surgery, orthopedic surgery, emergency medicine and cancer services. McLaren Central Michigan is recognized as an accessible and dependable source of quality medical care for residents of Mount Pleasant, Isabella County and central Michigan. In addition to its medical staff of over 50 active physicians, it is affiliated with more than 150 other quality providers. The hospital is one of the region’s largest employers, with approximately 550 employees and another 100 volunteers. McLaren Central Michigan received the Governor’s Award of Excellence in 2017 and 2019 and is named as one of the Top 100 Rural & Community Hospitals in the United States by the Chartis Center for Rural Health. It is the only hospital in the central Michigan area to receive a Safety “A” grade in the Hospital Safety report in 2018, 2019, 2020, 2021 and 2022. Learn more at mclaren.org/centralmichigan.
About McLaren Health Care
McLaren Health Care, headquartered in Grand Blanc, Michigan, is a $7.3 billion, fully integrated health care delivery system committed to quality, evidence-based patient care and cost efficiency. The McLaren system includes 12 hospitals in Michigan, ambulatory surgery centers, imaging centers, a 640-member employed primary and specialty care physician network, commercial and Medicaid HMOs covering more than 732,838 lives in Michigan and Indiana, home health, infusion and hospice providers, pharmacy services, a clinical laboratory network and a wholly owned medical malpractice insurance company. McLaren operates Michigan’s largest network of cancer centers and providers, anchored by the Karmanos Cancer Institute, a National Cancer Institute-designated comprehensive cancer center. McLaren has 28,000 full-, part-time and contracted employees and more than 113,000 network providers throughout Michigan, Indiana, and Ohio. Learn more at mclaren.org.