Oconee Memorial Foundation launches $4.2M campaign for $12M expansion

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The Oconee Memorial Hospital Foundation is launching a $4.2 million capital campaign to expand cancer care in Oconee County with larger facilities for Prisma Health’s Cancer Institute in Seneca.

The community funding, along with funding from Prisma Health, would almost double the footprint of Prisma Health’s Cancer Institute, allowing it to serve significantly more patients, according to a news release.

The announcement came Wednesday at OMH Foundation’s annual Pass the Purse event, a designer purse auction fundraiser held at Keowee Key and attended by nearly 250 community members, including many cancer survivors.

“Our community is growing by leaps and bounds, but, unfortunately, cancer rates are increasing as well,” Cortni Nations, manager of the OMH Foundation, said in the release. “Now’s the time to rally behind our cancer patients and expand our local Cancer Institute so we can continue to provide outstanding care here in our own backyard. Our community has always supported the health and wellbeing of its residents, and we see this as a vital next step.”

The philanthropic goal is just over $4 million. The total cost of the project is projected to be $12 million, with the other funding to come from Prisma Health, which hopes to break ground on the project in the fall of 2026.

Nations said the foundation has already raised $1.1 million, thanks to a contribution from Marilyn Parke and The Jim Parke Foundation among others.

“My husband lost his battle to lung cancer in 2018 so I, like so many others, know the tragic effects of cancer,” Marilyn Parke said in the release. “This center is incredibly important to cancer patients and also to caregivers who may be spending hours upon hours at the center with their loved ones. I hope others will join me in supporting this much needed expansion — and hope that our support will show patients and families going through this journey that they are not in the fight alone.”

The Seneca-based cancer institute is located on the Oconee Medical Campus and served 1,135 patients last year, the release stated. The expansion will increase the size of the current 11,000-square-foot center to nearly 20,000 square feet.

The expansion plan includes:

• Increasing the current space from 11,000 square feet to approximately 19,500 square feet.
• Increasing the size of the infusion suite with 26 spaces (10 semi-private chairs), allowing twice as many patients to be served in this area at one time.
• Adding a new, centralized nursing station in the infusion suite to better serve patients.
• Adding seven new exam rooms to the existing eight, including a larger bone marrow procedure room.
• Adding a healing garden to provide a place of refuge and promote healing.
• Expanding the waiting room to allow for a more comfortable space.
• Relocating the lab for easier patient access and better utilization of space for the team.
• Adding more workspace for doctors and nurses.

“The Prisma Health Cancer Institute is pleased to partner with the community to significantly upgrade and expand the Cancer Institute facilities on the Oconee Memorial Hospital campus,” said Dr. Julian Kim, a surgical oncologist who is president of the health care system’s comprehensive cancer program which has 11 cancer clinic sites across South Carolina. “This expansion will accommodate the needs of a growing population in the mountain-lakes region and allow for additional state-of-the-art cancer care close to home. We greatly appreciate the advocacy of the OMH Foundation and their leadership in raising funds to support this mission-critical facility expansion.”

Lynn Dobson, OMH Foundation’s cancer division board member and herself a cancer survivor and a donor, said in the release, “The beauty of this project is it will be a true partnership with Prisma Health and our community. We will all work together to further enhance state-of-the-art cancer care because we believe everyone here deserves that.”

“Cancer touches everyone,” Nations said in the release. “We invite our community, including individuals, businesses, churches, schools and civic groups, to join hands with us to build hope and healing for all who need it. There’s no better way to honor or celebrate a loved one than a gift to this important initiative.”