SALISBURY – Novant Health Rowan Medical Center Foundation has received $200,000 from the Charles A. Cannon Charitable Trusts for the Novant Health Wallace Cancer Center under construction at Mocksville and Mahaley avenues.

Once completed, the Wallace Cancer Center will improve patients’ quality of life by providing patient-centered care, enhanced care coordination, improved accessibility and affordability, and leading-edge treatment.

The award represents the second such gift from the Cannon Trusts. In 2018, the trusts awarded the foundation $200,000 for cancer center construction.

The medical center has provided cancer care in the greater Rowan County area for more than 35 years. Oncologists and staff care for more than 1,000 patients diagnosed with cancer annually at facilities throughout the county.

The new cancer center will bring these services under one roof, improving convenience and efficiency and reducing transportation barriers faced by underserved and rural residents.

Screening services will remain available at facilities throughout the county, including Novant Health Imaging Julian Road. Additionally, Novant’s leadership will recruit additional cancer specialists to Rowan County. The new center will include medical and radiation oncology, PET imaging, infusion center, palliative care, laboratory services, cancer imaging, integrative medicine, genetic counseling, nurse navigation, a resource library, conference and education rooms, and a boutique with cosmetics, wigs and other personal items.

“The Novant Health Wallace Cancer Center will be a giant leap forward in health care for the people of Rowan and surrounding counties,” said Ann Caulkins, president of the Novant Health Foundations. “The trusts’ generous gift supports the highest level of cancer care with improved access and outcomes throughout the region.”

The Novant foundation is raising $12 million for the cancer center, with Novant Health corporate leaders investing an additional $12 million to pay for the $24 million facility.

To date, more than $8 million of the $12 million goal has been raised. Construction will be complete at the new center next summer.

“We are excited about the positive impact the new center will have for patient-centered cancer care close to home,” said Gary Blabon, interim president of the medical center. “The trusts’ support represents exceptional community engagement, and we are deeply grateful to partner with the Charles A. Cannon Charitable Trusts’ staff and board of directors on behalf of the people we serve.”

 

Charles A. Cannon, president and CEO of Cannon Mills Co. for more than half a century, established The Cannon Foundation in 1943. Cannon firmly believed in free enterprise and the importance of giving back to others, and knew that a life well lived was a life in which personal success benefited employees and co-workers, peers, the local community and the nation at large.

Upon Cannon’s death in 1971, the trusts were established to carry on the works in which he was interested during his lifetime. The Cannon Foundation and Charles A. Cannon Charitable Trusts continue his legacy of giving across North Carolina.