PITTSBURG, Kan. – Freeman Health System officials have greenlit a $14-million expansion to the existing Freeman Physicians Group of Pittsburg facility. Upon completion, it will provide the most comprehensive, high-quality cancer care in Southeast Kansas.

The expansion project – adding 12,000 additional square feet to the existing 4,500-square-foot building located at 1201 Centennial Drive in Pittsburg – is the latest investment Freeman has made to Crawford County and its communities. Dirt is already being moved onsite with heavy equipment.

The nearly 17,000-square-foot facility, utilizing the entire three-acre site, is tentatively scheduled for completion in late 2026.

“It’s so great to see this happening,” said Pittsburg-based Freeman Oncologist Dr. Boban Mathew, adding that the new facility will provide comprehensive cancer care to all cancer patients in the area.

Medical Oncology

The existing medical oncology department in Pittsburg will more than double in size, said Ben Blair, Freeman’s Director of Oncology Service Line.

“We’ll double the number of chemotherapy chairs we have there. We’re also building a pharmacy in-house, and that alone will give us a lot better drug access and the ability to do what we need to do there,” Blair said. “It’s absolutely a huge step forward for us in Pittsburg.”

The pharmacy Blair’s referring to is a state-of-the-art compound pharmacy – one of two major new components centered around medical oncology in the expansion project. Compound pharmacies specialize in creating customized medications – usually by combining, mixing, or altering ingredients – to meet specific patient needs that aren’t readily available from standard pharmacies.

The other major addition consists of a top-of-the-line PET/CT scanner, Blair said. The scanner provides detailed images of the patient’s body and can detect, locate, and even assess the nature of any abnormalities discovered, aiding in more accurate and timely diagnoses.

“We currently have a PET/CT truck onsite – we’ve been using that for a while now – but the new digital scanner is going to be able to give us the ability to do more extensive scans that our current scanner simply can’t do,” Blair said.

Once the building opens to the public, the existing PET/CT mobile scanner and modular compound pharmacy – both housed outdoors and accessible via covered walkway – will be removed from the property, Blair said.

Radiation Oncology

Medical oncology isn’t the only key area being addressed. A radiation oncology component, overseen by Freeman Oncologist Dr. Chance Matthiesen, will be added to the new building.

Enclosed within a concrete protective vault inside the building will be one of the newest, state-of-the-art linear accelerators available, complementing the existing TrueBeam accelerator currently in operation at Joplin’s Freeman East Hospital.

The machine uses high-energy x-rays to target and destroy cancer cells while minimizing damage to surrounding healthy tissue.

“Presently, Freeman does not have a radiation ‘treatment center’ in Southeast Kansas. This is going to add that critical missing piece,” said Dr. Matthiesen, who currently operates a radiation oncology clinic in Pittsburg twice a month.

Right now, Freeman’s Southeast Kansas-based patients need to drive to Joplin for their radiation treatments, he said. Data from multiple sources, including the American Cancer Society, shows that the closer to home patients stay for cancer treatment and healing, the better the long-term results and outcomes will be.

“Traveling even an hour each day is hard – financially, emotionally, and physically,” Dr. Matthiesen said. “Our comprehensive Pittsburg cancer center will at least lessen or even eliminate these complicating factors. With few exceptions, they’ll receive their full extent of state-of-the-art, highest-quality cancer care treatment while staying at home in Southeast Kansas. For the most common cancer diagnoses encountered in the Four-State area – including cancers of the lung, breast, prostate, rectum, skin, and others – we will now be able to fully take care of all these patients closer to their homes in the Pittsburg area and Southeast Kansas, just like we’re taking care of them in Joplin.”

Freeman Physicians Group of Pittsburg’s expansion, he continued, “is going to change the landscape for patients in Southeast Kansas when it comes to access to receiving the highest quality of cancer care.

“Once we get started, this is only going to be the beginning,” Dr. Matthiesen said.