Two years after construction began on the Harold Alfond Center for Cancer Care in Augusta, patient Crystal Leavitt is still directing traffic.

The center has undergone significant changes over Leavitt’s year of cancer treatment. A second check-in area was built and a wing for support services followed. Patients were directed to use one elevator, then another, to reach the terrace level.

Leavitt said she is regularly consulted for directions.

“Even though I wasn’t part of the construction, I was in it,” said Leavitt, 31, who has been undergoing treatment for breast cancer. “People that weren’t here all the time would be like: ‘Where do I go?'”

“Oh, you go over here now,” she said. “You go over here.”

MaineGeneral Health has raised $34.3 million to expand the center, located next to the Augusta hospital. The expansion, set to wrap up in the spring of 2026, has allowed support services and programs to come under one roof, said Heather Moore, supervisor of the Shuman Center for Hope and Healing, the new support services wing.

“A walk-in patient can see a financial counselor, the dietitian, an oncology counselor and community resource staff all in one place without having to hunt them down,” Moore said.

Construction came in two phases: first, building a new check-in area, conference rooms and secluded wing for support services, plus a parking lot awning and more garden space. The crew has since moved on to renovating older parts of the building.

In the renovated terrace level, overhead lights emanate a warmth close to sunlight above dozens of new treatment bays, outfitted with wall-to-wall windows overlooking the center’s garden. Patients flip through TV channels while staff members bustle around polished hallways that eventually give way to yellow tape, dust and ladders.

The construction crew moves in and out of rooms, renovating the old space. Ben Ames, superintendent for Lajoie Brothers, a family owned construction company based in Augusta, said construction jobs are usually marked by temporary walls, noise mitigation and instructions of “don’t look at anyone, don’t talk to anyone.”

He said this project has given the crew a chance to engage with staff and patients.

“Maybe it’s not all about the separation,” Ames said.

Crew members have built a rapport with patients and staff since construction began in late 2023. Zachery DiAnni, a worker with Lajoie Brothers, said he asked last year why patients were ringing a bell outside the facility.

It was a moment, he learned, announcing the end of a patient’s treatment.

Now, he and other crew members are some of the loudest to cheer when the bell rings.

“You see some people out there, they’re ringing the bell, and the only people they have surrounding them are some of the staff members here,” DiAnni said. “I saw that, and just made a mental note that people deserve to be cheered for.”

Debbie Bowden, administrative director of oncology services at MaineGeneral, said staff members “were literally in tears to see the response our construction crew was having.”

With expansion of the Shuman wing completed, Bowden said staff can see more patients and prevent them from having to travel longer distances for services.

“Health care is really challenged right now,” Bowden said, adding that with the new space, “we have additional chairs, we won’t have to delay care. We’re able to increase our clinical trials, which helps people be able to stay home.”

In addition to adding support group sessions, counseling services and educational and movement classes, Bowden said Shuman center specialists are exploring integrative therapies that could accompany medical treatment.

Leavitt, who still points patients in the right direction from time to time, recently found out her breast cancer is no longer detectable and is wrapping up treatment.

She rang the bell for her last round of radiation earlier this year. She had forgotten to invite family or friends, but when the construction crew heard the bell, Leavitt said, they stopped to clap and cheer.

“It was just really nice to feel that,” Leavitt said, “even from folks that I may not know really well, that have seen people like me come in and out of these doors every day, while they’re working every day.”