According to a statement released by officials at Children’s, the four single-story buildings will each contain three apartments, which will accommodate families who travel to Cincinnati Children’s for proton therapy.
Such treatment can take four to six weeks, which requires temporary relocation for many families.
Cincinnati Children’s will lease the buildings for $1 to the nonprofit Bold & Brave Kids Foundation, which will operate the furnished and equipped apartments. They will be used solely by families who travel to the Proton Therapy Center, which treats children and adults for more than 30 types of cancer.
The apartment site will be off of Yankee Road near to the Children’s campus, south of Ohio 129 and about a quarter of a mile from the Interstate 75 interchange.
“The Cincinnati Children’s Proton Therapy Center is a destination for families from throughout Ohio, surrounding states and the rest of the nation who travel here to receive some of the most advanced and effective treatments for children with cancer,” said Abram Gordon, executive director of the Proton Therapy Center.
“The extended-stay apartments operated by the Bold & Brave Kids Foundation will meet a critical need by accommodating these families in a relaxing setting near where their children undergo vital medical care.”
Each unit will encompass about 1,300 square feet and include two bedrooms, two bathrooms, a full-size kitchen, a great room, a laundry room and a porch. Exteriors will be brick and lap siding. Cost of the four commercial buildings, which will occupy three acres owned by Cincinnati Children’s, is expected to be about $3.7 million.
“Proton therapy is an advanced form of radiation therapy,” said Dr. John Perentesis, director of the Division of Oncology and co-director of the Cancer and Blood Diseases Institute at Cincinnati Children’s as well as research director for the Proton Therapy Center.
“The precision particle beam technology used at the Cincinnati Children’s Proton Therapy Center destroys cancer cells while minimizing damage to surrounding healthy organs,” Perentesis said. “Patients experience fewer side effects and complications than with traditional radiation therapy. That’s especially important for children, whose bodies are still growing and developing.”
Site preparation will begin later this month and construction is scheduled to start in January. Apartments could be ready for families by late April 2023, depending on weather and availability of building materials, said officials.
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