Roswell Park opens long-planned $4.7 million outreach center in Fruit Belt

Roswell Park Comprehensive Cancer Center has a new home base in its efforts to connect with the community around the Buffalo Niagara Medical Campus.

The cancer center this month held a grand opening for the long-planned Roswell Park Community Outreach & Engagement Center, a 5,900-square-foot space that sits on a half-acre lot at 907 Michigan Ave. in the city’s Fruit Belt.

The center is home to services focused on advancing health equity and bolstering health outcomes in Western New York through cancer awareness, educational programs, navigation to cancer screening, financial wellness programming and space for community gatherings.

About a dozen Roswell Park outreach team members will be based at the center full time, along with several volunteer teams associated with specialized programs, Roswell Park spokesperson Annie Deck-Miller said. 

The new center bolsters the community outreach and engagement work that Roswell Park performs as part of its National Cancer Institute designation. In addition, the cancer center no doubt hopes the new site will boost its relationship with the Fruit Belt, where residents have long felt the growing Medical Campus disrupted the fabric that made the neighborhood unique.

“We’re excited to be able to quite literally open our home to our neighbors,” said Elizabeth Bouchard, senior vice president and associate director for community outreach and engagement.

“Even in our first weeks in this beautiful center, we’ve seen the power of spontaneous moments of connection,” she said. “Having this beautiful space as a home base for our outreach helps us make conversations about cancer risk and wellness relatable, comfortable and deeply effective.”

The project centered on the rehab and reuse of a 1,300-square-foot home that was built in 1878. The center – designed by Young + Wright Architectural and built by Telco Construction – also added a wing that includes floor-to-ceiling glass and a window-lined corridor. Inside, Roswell Park said custom wallpaper features buildings of historical significance to the African American community in Buffalo.

The center has office space, a conference room, a community resource area with public access to computers and an outdoor garden.

Deck-Miller said the total project cost was $4.7 million. She added that Roswell Park received $2 million in state funds for the project, and the Roswell Park Alliance Foundation provided $1 million toward the outreach center.

Breast cancer survivor and patient advocate Veronica Meadows Ray spoke at the grand opening and described the new center as “small and intimate.”

“I think patients who might be overwhelmed by the hustle and bustle of the main hospital will appreciate having 907 Michigan as another option in the community,” Ray said. “I am sure this new facility will help reach even more folks, and I am proud and humbled to be part of this new community facility.”

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Some sad news to report: E. Brooke Lerner, a leading expert and researcher on emergency medicine at the University at Buffalo, died Oct. 4 after a battle with cancer. She was 52 years old.

Dr. Allison Brashear, dean of UB’s Jacobs School of Medicine and Biomedical Sciences, said Lerner was “someone others aspired to emulate,” described by colleagues as a “passionate educator, role model and mentor.”

Lerner was a professor and vice chair of research in the Department of Emergency Medicine at the Jacobs School.

Late last fall, The Buffalo News wrote a story about Lerner several months after doctors delivered the devastating news to her that she had stage 4 pancreatic cancer. The story focused on how Lerner – unsure of how much time she had left – worked with the National Association of EMS Physicians to establish the E. Brooke Lerner Research Fund to help support early career EMS researchers.

In her work, Lerner, a well-known expert on emergency medicine, particularly on the triage of pediatric emergencies, was committed to helping improve the prehospital care provided by first responders that occurs before a patient reaches the emergency department. 

As Lerner explained last year about prehospital care: “It’s not just a ride, it’s actual care that can impact outcomes. And the better it gets, the more people survive horrible days.”

In lieu of flowers, UB said that Lerner’s family requests any donations be made to the E. Brooke Lerner Research Fund.

“May her enduring legacy serve as an inspiration to all of us, reminding us of the profound impact one ‎person’s selfless dedication can have in elevating the practice of EMS medicine,” said Dr. José G. Cabañas, president of the National Association of EMS Physicians.

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1. The long-abandoned Trico Products building in downtown Buffalo is slowly taking shape.

2. Why the Buffalo Niagara job market doesn’t look quite as vulnerable as it did a month earlier.

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The Buffalo Next team gives you the big picture on the region’s economic revitalization. Email tips to buffalonext@buffnews.com or reach Buffalo Next Editor David Robinson at 716-849-4435.

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