Sequim Gazette photo by Mark Couhig

Bundled up for a blustery day, Dave Gaboury of Primo Construction ties together rebar for a foundation now under construction at the Olympic Medical Cancer Center in Sequim. Once the foundation is completed, a temporary building housing a linear accelerator will be placed on the foundation. The temporary unit will ensure the cancer center can provide “seamless service” as its 8-year-old linear accelerator is shut down and removed to make way for a new $2.7 million Varian TrueBeam Linear Accelerator, the state-of-the-art cancer treatment equipment recently approved for purchase by the Olympic Medical Center board.

The center’s old linear accelerator is scheduled to “go down” Jan. 7, 2011, the temporary unit will fire up Jan. 10, and the new TrueBeam should be online by April. OMC has budgeted $500,000 to provide the temporary service.