St. Mary’s Health System will once again provide medical oncology services to patients in Lewiston through a collaboration with an Augusta-based cancer care team.

Starting July 7, healthcare providers from MaineGeneral’s Harold Alfond Center for Cancer Care in Augusta will work two days a week in Lewiston to provide medical oncology services, which focus on the diagnosis and treatment of cancer.

Patients will still have to establish care in Augusta. But ongoing oncology services, therapies and medical visits can continue at St. Mary’s, bringing care closer to home for many patients in Lewiston-Auburn and surrounding communities.

“One of the concerns we heard most often from our community was the importance of local access to cancer treatment,” Win Brown, president of St. Mary’s Health System, said in a news release Wednesday. “Restoring access to medical oncology services at St. Mary’s has been an important goal.”

St. Mary’s suspended medical oncology services in 2024 after its previous oncology team, part of a partnership with MaineHealth, was relocated to Brunswick. Early cancer detection and diagnostic services continued, but the hospital’s IV infusion center was no longer open to oncological infusions. Some patients had to leave.

One breast cancer survivor said she had been with St. Mary’s breast health program for 20 years before services were cut off. She established care at the Bennett Breast Care Center at Central Maine Medical Center in Lewiston, but said she’d rather have all her doctors in one place.

“All my care is and always has been at St Mary’s,” she said, “so I’d prefer to return there, if possible.”

With a doctor and two advanced practice providers starting at St. Mary’s next week, patients will have access to infusion treatments and the full suite of cancer services offered in Augusta: hematology, radiation oncology, clinical trials, genetic counseling, oncology navigation, social work support, nutritional counseling and survivorship resources.

MaineGeneral has similar partnerships with MaineHealth Franklin Hospital in Farmington and Redington-Fairview General Hospital in Skowhegan. Patients can usually be seen for an initial cancer consultation in Augusta within a week, said Debbie Bowden, associate vice president of oncology services at MaineGeneral Medical Center.

Before long, Bowden said they’re back home with a treatment plan that can be carried out locally.

“We are providing the oncology subspecialty for all three satellite clinics so that each community has access to specialty medical oncologists instead of having to travel for consultation,” Bowden said.

St. Mary’s is accepting patient referrals.