Dignity Health‘s cancer resources will be under the same roof for the first time in San Luis Obispo County in a new facility on the corner of Tank Farm Road and Broad Street.
The new facility will combine existing oncology resources at French Hospital Medical Center, Marian Regional Medical Center, and Pacific Central Coast Health Centers. President and CEO of Dignity Health hospitals along the Central Coast Sue Andersen said the new facility will improve patient convenience and enhance cancer treatment throughout the county.
“This is going to be a tremendous asset to this community,” Andersen said.
Currently, Andersen said, cancer patients have to go to various locations to receive different types of treatment, which can be tiring and inconvenient.
“If you’re on a cancer journey, you go to your oncologist and you might receive infusion services in the same building that the oncologist is in,” she said. “But radiation, you’re going to go across town to another building under different ownership, and then if you need imaging, you could go to one of several locations in the community for your imaging, and then you’re going to go see your surgeon in a different office.”
But the new center would allow these services to be just a few doors away from one another.
“Right now, it just feels like you don’t have everybody collaborating and working together in an environment where they can just walk across the hall and say, ‘Hey, I have this patient, this is what they need,’ and work together for that patient,” Andersen said. “And I really feel like, by bringing everybody into one location, we can do that for patients.”
Construction is set to start this spring at the existing building near the corner of Tank Farm and Broad. Upon completion, estimated in early 2026, the $10 million facility will be 58,650 square feet and provide medical oncology, hematology, infusion, diagnostic imaging, radiation oncology, general and oncology surgery, and urology services.
Andersen said there will also be space for support groups and will feature the Hearst Cancer Resource Center, dedicated to helping cancer patients and their families from diagnosis through recovery.
The SLO County cancer center was modeled after Santa Maria’s Mission Hope Cancer Center, Andersen said, but this new location will also provide additional services, like a surgery center.
“We’ve seen in Santa Maria what it’s done to have one cancer center where a patient can come for all of their services, and they know the staff and everyone that works there collaborates together for a patient’s cancer care, and that just leads to better outcomes,” she said. “So, we’re replicating that here in this building in San Luis Obispo.”
While the SLO center will be dedicated to cancer treatment, Andersen said the facility will also offer preventative screenings like mammograms, as well as other surgical procedures.
“If a patient is suspected to have a lump, they’ll want to do an MRI to really diagnose further what’s happening with the patient. … We hope people will come and get their annual mammogram in the building, and we’ll take care of everyone there,” Andersen said. Δ
This article appears in Weddings 2025.