Earlier this month, the long-awaited $400 million, eight-story outpatient tower opened on the City of Hope campus in Duarte – the centerpiece of a $1 billion campus modernization and expansion drive.
City of Hope is one of 57 comprehensive cancer centers designated by the National Cancer Institute that meet its standards for cancer prevention, cancer research and clinical services. It also conducts research into diabetes.
The new tower and surrounding gardens, collectively called Hope Plaza, replace four smaller buildings that were demolished.
The 350,000-square-foot tower is the largest outpatient facility among City of Hope’s 38 locations across the nation. It aims to bring together cancer experts across specialties in one place, making patient care easier and more convenient for patients and their families.
More than 35,000 people each year in Los Angeles County are diagnosed with cancer, and the trend line is skewing younger, according to Marcel van den Brink, president of City of Hope Los Angeles and of City of Hope National Medical Center.
“A shift in patient demographics to younger adults and more cancer survivors living longer has created a need for City of Hope to offer both more outpatient care and supportive care,” Van den Brink said.
What’s more, he said, technological and medical advances in cancer treatment have meant an ever-increasing share of patients can be treated on an outpatient basis, rather than in a full hospital setting.
Exam and infusion rooms galore
The newly-opened tower contains 84 exam rooms, 110 infusion spaces, 32 blood draw spaces, 28 consultation rooms, eight treatment rooms, two radiology spaces, extensive imaging systems and video conferencing capabilities.
According to the Hope Plaza opening announcement from City of Hope, the 84 exam rooms boost outpatient visit capacity by 69% – or 168,000 more patient visits – than the Duarte campus could handle previously.
The tower will also be home to the Cherng Family Center for Integrative Oncology, made possible by a $100 million gift from Andrew and Peggy Cherng, philanthropists and co-founders of the Panda Express restaurant chain. Integrative oncology combines diverse approaches to cancer treatment, including Chinese and other Eastern healing traditions.
The consolidation of the outpatient facilities into the single tower makes it easier for cancer researchers and specialists on other parts of the campus to provide patient consults.
“City of Hope experts are on the forefront of personalized medicine based on an individual’s genes, robotic and minimally invasive surgery, (as well as) interventional radiology that concentrates on disease and leaves healthy cells untouched,” Van den Brink said.
The consolidation also makes it easier on patients and their families as all outpatient services are in one building instead of being scattered in several buildings.
Another step to boost support for patients and their families was the opening last year of a $65 million, five-story, 147-room hotel on the Duarte campus specifically designed for patients recovering from cancer and other medical treatments, the patients’ families, as well as traveling medical professionals.
The new outpatient tower was co-designed by mid-Wilshire-based CO Architects and Wayne, Pennsylvania-based EwingCole. Redwood City-based DPR Construction was the main contractor.
