Central Coast patients in need of specialized cancer treatment soon won’t have to travel out of the area, thanks to the shared vision of local oncologist Robert Dichmann and a local businessman and cancer survivor, Atul Patel.
The two men, along with Patel’s father, are in the beginning stages of building an all-in-one, comprehensive cancer care center in Santa Maria.
“It’s something that local cancer specialists, including myself, have been thinking about for years,” Dichmann told the Sun in an interview.
Currently, cancer services in the area—such as radiation, chemotherapy, surgery, and others—are fragmented, Dichmann said. Patients and their families have to travel all over the Central Coast or down to Los Angeles in order to receive treatment. Frequent travel can be incredibly difficult, both physically and mentally, for patients, as well as a financial challenge for families.
“It’s a hardship to travel,” Dichmann said. “It’s very easy to communicate with the big centers.”
The proposed facility—which would be located next to the Marian Medical Center campus—would bring all local cancer-related services, from CAT scans to mammograms, under one roof.
And the center wouldn’t just benefit the patients, Dichmann said.
“From a physician’s point of view, it’s the way we’re trained to treat cancer,” he explained. “Usually we would be able to meet with all the different doctors and surgeons to discuss [a surgery].
“It really helps to be able to say to your patients … ‘Let me do the leg work for you.’ It gives people confidence,” he said.
The doctors at the new center will maintain open communication with other specialists in the field, specifically staffers at the UCLA Department of Radiation Oncology.
Patel agreed that confidence and comfort are very important to cancer patients, adding that people usually don’t realize how debilitating cancer can be until they experience it first-hand. He saw a family member deal with colon cancer, and Patel himself was diagnosed with testicular cancer shortly thereafter.
“I felt like I was 95 years old walking around,” said Patel, whose cancer is currently in remission.
While Patel was going through treatment, he and Dichmann started discussing the possibility of creating a center together—a center that would provide patients with highly accessible, state-of-the-art care.
But Patel, who has experience building hotels, said that the project “isn’t a business deal.”
“This is something I can leave behind,” he said. “They say there’s always a reason why things happen. I think this is a calling for me.”
Dichmann, who has been practicing oncology in the area for 12 years, said, that the community is ready to see this happen.
“The longer I’ve been here, the more I realize that cancer is something that touches everyone,” he said.
The center will provide dozens of services in several fields, including radiation, oncology, surgery, chemotherapy and radiation therapy, lab tests, CT scans, PET scans, digital mammograms, and breast ultrasound.
Other special features include valet parking and a resource center. In the chemotherapy room, where patients can spend up to eight hours per treatment, there will spacious views of the hills and vineyards surrounding Santa Maria.
For more information about the proposed center, contact the Central Coast Medical Oncology Group at 349-9393.
Staff Writer Amy Asman compiled this week’s Community Corner. Items for consideration should be sent to mail@santamariasun.com.
This article appears in Sep 25 – Oct 2, 2008.