lyriew, In my opinion no not all the same. You need a one that has been doing the proton treatments a long time along with trained specialist with a lot of experience.

UFPTI has been doing them since 2006 and has treated over 10,000 patient. Their bio states almost every U.S. state and 33 countries have come there for treatments. They have a very robust help section for housing and assistance while there. If you are considering UFPTI ask for their package and will be Fed Ex to you.

The Mendenhalls (husband and wife) who are (William was my oncologist/radiologist) oncologist/radiologist specialists there. Mrs. Mendenhall and UFPTI received a 25 million federal grant to do long term proton therapy research. They have proton radiation specialist that treat specific cancers like eye, prostrate, head, neck, etc.

What I saw (and was hard to see) was a lot of children coming there as the proton radiation is used a lot for children to reduce short and long term radiation damage. Pencil beam proton capability is different than photon. All radiation treatments have short term and long term side affects but for children the long term side affects are much more important because of the life span on the patients being treated.

Those facilities you mentioned it would be helpful to know how long doing them. How many gantry treatment rooms they have. How many patients treated. Equipment updated. The gantry I got my radiation treatment on had just be updated with latest technology in 2023.

UFPTI is a massive facility with 5 treatment rooms doing treatments from 5:30 a.m. until 10:30 p.m. My gantry treatment room came on line (millions of dollar upgrade for latest technology) the first week of my treatments. I was give my priority preference time of around 12 noon. The entire next 5 weeks my treatment times were all within 30 minutes of that requested time. You are given your next treatment time when you finish your treatment. I liked that I had the same treatment team, techs, specialists, and treatment room for the entire 5 weeks. Got to know them very well and they knew me by sight and name. They also have an on line portal to send and receive messages, do questionnaires, forms, test results, etc. Their waiting room is a massive very comfortable area with piano and music, beverage area, and a separate enclosed area for children to play.

Mayo Clinic also has excellent prostrate care and programs. Phoenix and Rochester have and use proton radiation for prostrate cancer but Jacksonville only has photon. But Jacksonville has an excellent treatment and care[programs. Statistic wise the cure rates for proton and photon are basically the same based on 5 year studies. I mentioned the long term federal grant given to Mendenhall to study the long term results as most all studies so far have been 5 year studies.

I have been a patient at Mayo Clinic Jacksonville for 17 years and they are outstanding. A lot of people travel to Phoenix and Rochester as well.