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Last updated on Thursday, August 28, 2014
(BLOOMINGTON) - IU and IU Health have decided to close the IU Health Proton Therapy Center and the IU Cyclotron.
Vice President of Communications Mark Land says the facilities which are struggling financially will close by the end of the year.
IU's proton therapy center is a collaboration between IU Health and IU Research and Technology Corp and has been treating cancer patients for 10 years. Proton therapy, a type of treatment best served to deal with specific cancers because of its ability to be focused and not damage healthy tissues during treatments. Most of the center's patients have brain or eye cancer.
Land says the center is currently treating 30 patients, but will not shut its doors until those patients have completed their treatment.
No new patients will be treated.
Each of the 120 employees who either work with Cyclotron or the patients will be given six weeks paid time to find new jobs.
Anybody who does not find a job by that time will be able to receive a week's pay for every year they have been employed at the facility, potentially adding up to a maximum of 32 weeks of pay including the original six weeks.
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