New cancer center planned
By Janene Scully/Associate Editor
A Central Coast hotel owner and cancer survivor has joined forces with his doctor to create a new one-stop shop for cancer patients in the Santa Maria Valley and beyond
The comprehensive cancer care center has been proposed for land in the 1400 block of East Main Street on the Marian Medical Center campus, officials said Tuesday.
The private project fulfills the dream of Santa Maria oncologist Dr. Robert Dichmann and one of his cancer patients, Atul Patel, who owns hotels in Lompoc, Santa Maria, Santa Barbara and formerly Solvang.
“I think this is the time to build this kind of a center,” Dichmann said. “This is a growing movement across the county because we’ve realized that this is the best way to offer care for the patients.”
Dichmann has been practicing oncology in Santa Maria for 12 years, and is now with Central Coast Medical Oncology group.
“This is for our community,” said Patel, president and general partner of AMPS Inc. and Central Coast Hotel Properties. “This is not just Santa Maria, believe it or not. This is for people from Santa Barbara, Lompoc, Solvang, Santa Ynez, Paso Robles, San Luis. Anybody that needs help at a true state-of-the-art cancer center, they will be able to come here.”
Cancer has twice struck his family; Patel’s father PD Patel is undergoing treatment for colon cancer.
During his own treatment for testicular cancer after diagnosis in May 2006, Atul Patel said he discovered that having to travel from one building to another, and yet another, for treatment and tests takes a toll on patients.
“It was very tiring when you’re on the chemotherapy,” Patel said.
During an appointment, he asked his doctor if he had ever thought of developing a cancer center to improve that aspect of treatment for patients.
“Not just an everyday cancer center, but a center where everybody could be taken care of under one roof, without worrying and going from one end of town to the other,” Patel said.
Patient comfort is the impetus for the proposed center’s valet service in the porte-cochre (or covered entrance) along with parking for 210 vehicles.
It’s also the reason the eight-sided chemotherapy room is proposed for the building’s third floor — the height will allow patients to enjoy views of the rolling hills and vineyards surrounding Santa Maria. In fact Dichmann, who admitted he’s not much of risk taker, still rode a “cherry picker” several feet high to sneak a peek at the view a third-story floor might offer.
“In our chemotherapy suite, people can spend as little as an hour to as much as eight hours getting an infusion of treatment,” Dichmann said. “We want to make the place that’s a little more soothing ... “
A comprehensive facility makes sense because most cancer patients have more than one doctor, such as a medical oncologist and radiation oncologist and a surgeon handling their case. This allows the medical staff to more easily discuss a patient treatment, Dichmann said.
Along with housing doctors’ offices, the new facility also will offer chemotherapy and radiation therapy, lab tests, CT scans, PET scans, dedicated research department, resource center and education, support groups and pain management center.
Joining Dichmann at the new center will be Dr. Brian A. DiCarlo and Dr. Kathleen April Kennedy, also with Central Coast Medical Oncology.
Designed as a Spanish-style building, the facility will have three stories and encompass 37,000 square feet on what today is a gravel lot used for parking.
“It’s an incredible project that’s going to continue and expand providing comprehensive cancer services in our community,” said Charles J. Cova, Marian Medical Center president. “This will really create a center that will serve our community well into the future.”
Cova said it made the most sense to locate the cancer care center on the hospital campus. Marian will continue to own the land and have a long-term lease with the cancer center, he added.
Additionally, some Marian facilities, such as the Marian Breast Imaging Center, will lease space in the building.
Plans were submitted to the city of Santa Maria on Friday. Project backers hope to secure permits so they can break ground in four to six months, and open by February 2010.
Patel says he brings financial wherewithal from his hotel business — with partner David Prenatt of Montecito — to line up financing for the center.
They own the Holiday Inn Express in Lompoc, Holiday Inn Hotel & Suites in Santa Maria and the El Prado Inn and the State Street Hotel in Santa Barbara. They’re also building a Hilton Garden Inn in Lompoc. They recently sold the Holiday Inn Express in Solvang.
Cancer patients Patel has met during his own and his father’s treatments helped inspire him to create a center for their comfort and convenience, he said.
“I don’t want this to come across as a business, because it isn’t. If it was a business I’d buy another hotel,” Patel said.
jscully@theadobepress.com
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