The Oncology Department at Mackinac Straits Hospital expanded its program from two days a week to three days beginning Wednesday, July 1.

The benefit to patients with cancer and blood disorders will be that they can receive cancer and hematology treatment closer to home, especially since most chemotherapy is provided on an outpatient basis, said oncology specialist Edward Smith of St. Ignace, who has been serving St. Ignace under an outreach program of Northern Michigan Regional Hospital in Petoskey since 2000. Dr. Smith signed an employment contract with Mackinac Straits Hospital July 1 that will permit him to be at St. Ignace three days a week, at Newberry County Memorial Hospital one day a week, and continue to work with the Oncology Department at Petoskey one day a week.

Northern Michigan Regional Hospital has added three oncologists to its staff, which enabled Dr. Smith to expand his services in the Eastern Upper Peninsula, he said.

He has been working at Mackinac Straits Hospital for most of the last 23 years and received training and degrees from Lake Superior State, Michigan State University, and University of Michigan. Dr. Smith is board certified by the American Board of Internal Medicine in Internal Medicine, Medical Oncology, and Hematology.