12/18/2024
Dear Friends:
HAPPY HOLIDAYS! We have not reached out to you in many months as we quietly continue to pursue our Certificate Of Need (CON) from the State of Connecticut Office of Health Strategy.
As we celebrate the holidays and look into 2025, we are encouraged!
--GOOD NEWS: Proton therapy continues to grow across the United States and around the world. Not only is it a game-changer for cancer patients, but there is growing evidence that proton therapy is a viable treatment for other medical conditions, including some serious heart issues! The medical evidence of the efficacy of proton therapy is growing, as is the financial evidence that proton therapy is effective in reducing health care costs.
--GOOD NEWS: Proton therapy is "on the way" in Wallingford, Connecticut. Five months before we applied for Danbury Proton's CON in the spring of 2020, Hartford HealthCare and Yale New Haven Health formed a partnership to apply for a CON for Connecticut Proton Therapy Center in Wallingford. OHS approved their CON in the spring of 2022.
After a series of delays, HHC/YNHH began construction in July. We have been consistent, public cheerleaders of this facility because we don't view them as competitors. Even with two centers, there will still be unmet patient need. The closest operating proton therapy centers in Boston and New York City are consistently turning away patients for lack of capacity.
--GOOD NEWS: After nearly five years, our core Danbury Proton team is resolute in its motivation and mission. Our truly world class team has remained intact through all of the ups and downs, twists and turns. We're ready to begin once OHS approves our CON.
--GOOD NEWS: We continue to get consistent encouragement and support from the City of Danbury, Danbury Delegation in our State Legislature, and Greater Danbury Chamber of Commerce. They have been enthusiastic cheerleaders for Danbury Proton since we began this journey and have been just as perplexed as we've been by the unexpected, lengthy and peculiar delays in our CON approval. Until our CON is approved, Connecticut will be left with a proton therapy monopoly. Both facilities are needed to make proton therapy accessible and affordable to patients statewide.
--GOOD NEWS: January 17, 2025 is our next important milestone with OHS. Please join us in hoping and praying that OHS will finally approve our CON, so we can finally break ground on this revolutionary new treatment center in 2025.
God bless you this holiday season and always!
