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SwedishAmerican Health System Corporation, a US-based not-for-profit healthcare system, has broken ground for a new $40 million SwedishAmerican Regional Cancer Center in Rockford, Illinois.

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The new cancer centre has been designed by Saavedra Gehlhausen Architects and Eckenhoff Saunders Architects, while Ringland Johnson Construction will build the centre. Sprawling over a 30-acre site on N.Bell School Road, the new centre will be a freestanding building.

The services to be offered at the new cancer center include medical oncology, chemotherapy and infusion; advanced radiation therapy; and medical imaging. The centre will also be used by the University of Wisconsin-Madison to conduct clinical trials.

SwedishAmerican received approval for the scheme in April and commenced preliminary work on the site in mid-May. Construction on the scheme is expected to be completed in the last quarter of 2013.

SwedishAmerican anticipates hiring around 300 physicians and scientists and several other regular medical staff to the facilities at the centre. The new center is being constructed in collaboration with UW Health and University of Wisconsin Carbone Cancer Center.