Comprehensive Cancer Care

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.

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About Freeman Health System
Locally owned, not-for-profit and nationally recognized, Freeman Health System includes Freeman Hospital West, Freeman Hospital East, Freeman Neosho Hospital and Ozark Center – the area’s largest provider of behavioral health services – as well as two urgent care clinics, dozens of physician clinics and a variety of specialty services. In 2025, Freeman earned dozens of individual awards for medical excellence and patient safety from CareChex®, a quality rating system that helps consumers evaluate healthcare providers and their experiences. U.S. News & World Report named Freeman Health System one of the Best Hospitals for 2022. With more than 320 physicians on staff representing more than 90 specialties, Freeman provides cancer care, heart care, neurology and neurosurgery, orthopaedics, children’s services, women’s services, and many others for all of the Four State Area. Freeman is also involved in numerous community-based activities and sponsored events and celebrations. Additionally, in the Joplin/Pittsburg areas, Freeman is the only Children’s Miracle Network Hospital in a 70-mile radius. For more information, visit freemanhealth.com.

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Nevada Regional Medical Center (NRMC) is pleased to welcome Dr. Colby Smith back to Nevada.  Dr. Smith will be joining the staff at Nevada Medical Clinic.  He is board certified in Family Medicine and proud to return home as a Nevada High School alumnus.  Dr. Smith will begin seeing patients in September.

Dr. Smith cares for patients of all ages & offers services including:

• Acute or Chronic Illness Care
• Blood Pressure & Diabetes Management
• Preventive Care & Routine Exams
• Well Child Exams
• Wellness & Health Education
• Work, School & Sports Physicals

Dr. Smith’s office is located within Nevada Medical Clinic, 900 S Adams.  He is accepting new patients.  Appointments can be made by calling 417-667-6015.

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About Nevada Regional Medical Center
NRMC is a 71-bed acute, intensive and skilled care hospital providing comprehensive health care services.  Staff represent more than a dozen medical specialties including ear, nose & throat, family practice, general surgery, gynecology, internal medicine, orthopedics, pain management, pediatrics, psychiatry and wound care services. Additionally, consultation clinics are held regularly by specialists in cardiology, dermatology, neurology, podiatry, pulmonology and urology.

NRMC is centrally located between Kansas City and Joplin along the I-49 corridor.

Investing in Heart Care                                       

Joplin, MO. – There was a time, decades ago, when Freeman Health System Cardiologist Dr. Ryan Longnecker heavily relied on rolls of chest X-ray film to help diagnose a patient’s heart problem.

On Monday morning, Freeman’s Director of Cardiovascular Service Line was proud to exhibit Freeman Heart & Vascular Institute’s newly renovated Cardiac Catheterization Laboratory Room 1, which will enable the Institute to provide more advanced care for Freeman’s cardiac patients.

The Institute, Dr. Longnecker said, is home to four cath labs; the renovated Room 1 opened just 11 days ago.

“This is an exciting time for us,” he said. “We’ve continued to upgrade and enhance our equipment over the years with cutting-edge technology for the benefit of our patients, and also for the benefit of our staff.”

To that end, the ceiling-mounted, Phillips-manufactured cath lab equipment reduces the radiation dosage a cardiac patient – and the cardiac team working on that patient – receives by nearly 50 percent.

“The reason we’re so excited about this lab is not only is the picture quality amazing, but it actually uses less radiation to take pictures,” Dr. Longnecker said.

X-ray dosage has always been a concern for cardiac physicians and their teams working inside cath labs; it’s the reason why they wear lead-lined suits or aprons to protect themselves from radiation exposure. In the past, a reduction in radiation meant less reliable imaging. Thanks to the new technology, radiation from x-rays is reduced without negatively impacting image quality.

“The pictures this machine generates – they are just amazing,” Dr. Longnecker said.

The system’s technology, he continued, can produce extremely high-quality images for angiograms.

“This is an advancement that we feel is very important for our patients and staff,” Dr. Longnecker continued. “The less radiation that we can be exposed to, the less amount of side effects there will be when working inside the lab.”

Additional benefits the system provides include:

* Creating three-dimensional representations of a patient’s heart and blood vessels.

* Overlaying those 3D images onto a real-time, two-dimensional fluoroscopic view of a patient’s heart helps create a detailed “roadmap” for Dr. Longnecker to follow.

* Due to quality and sharpness of images, less contrast (dye) injections are needed. The dye enhances the visibility of certain tissues or structures in x-rays or CT scans, but the dye can sometimes cause allergic reactions.

* Stent visualization technology so physicians can see old stents inside arteries and help them more easily land new stents

* Can estimate the size of a blockage, helping the physician determine a optimal-sized stent.

The renovated cath lab will only enhance Freeman’s Level 1 STEMI designation, in which Freeman’s door-to-balloon time is less than 55 minutes, lower than the 90-minute recommendation.

“We’re so excited to have this technology and to bring it to the Joplin area,” Dr. Longnecker said, “It’s really second to none.”

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About Freeman Health System
Locally owned, not-for-profit and nationally recognized, Freeman Health System includes Freeman Hospital West, Freeman Hospital East, Freeman Neosho Hospital and Ozark Center – the area’s largest provider of behavioral health services – as well as two urgent care clinics, dozens of physician clinics and a variety of specialty services. In 2024, Freeman earned dozens of individual awards for medical excellence and patient safety from CareChex®, a quality rating system that helps consumers evaluate healthcare providers and their experiences. U.S. News & World Report named Freeman Health System one of the Best Hospitals for 2022. With more than 320 physicians on staff representing more than 90 specialties, Freeman provides cancer care, heart care, neurology and neurosurgery, orthopaedics, children’s services, women’s services, and many others for all of the Four State Area. Freeman is also involved in numerous community-based activities and sponsored events and celebrations. Additionally, in the Joplin/Pittsburg areas, Freeman is the only Children’s Miracle Network Hospital in a 70-mile radius. For more information, visit freemanhealth.com.