In November, Heidi Paolone received a heart-wrenching diagnosis: She had a rare form of stage 3 ovarian cancer.
Paolone was referred to City of Hope, a cancer research and treatment hospital, and had surgery at its Duarte facility, about 60 miles from her home in Cota de Caza. But with City of Hope set to open Orange County’s only cancer specialty hospital in Irvine in the fall of 2025, she is excited at the prospect of care a shorter distance from home.
City of Hope unveiled to-scale replicas of some of the planned hospital’s rooms and features on Tuesday, March 28, in an effort to solicit feedback about the design, layout and functionality from stakeholders, patients, doctors and the community at large. That’s in line with its “philosophy of wanting to be a neighbor,” said Annette Walker, president of City of Hope Orange County.
The replicas included the care team station, patient rooms, a pharmacy, a laboratory, a CT scan suite and fluoroscopy procedure area.
The design layout was intended to be less of a “sterile environment” and more comforting and welcoming, Cynthia Powers, vice president and associate chief nursing officer at City of Hope Orange County, said.
For example, she said, medical paraphernalia is tucked away out of sight in patient rooms to declutter and “really focus on the aesthetics.” Counters at care team stations are low so nurses and physicians can speak and acknowledge patients, she said, rather than have them go unnoticed.
Walker said City of Hope did extensive research on Orange County to determine the cancers that had the greatest need in choosing specialists in gynecology, hematology-oncology, dermatology, breast cancer and bone marrow. An integrated medicine specialist was also hired.
“We do have some Eastern methodologies that will be incorporated in our supportive care departments such as acupuncture, meditation,” Walker said. “We are doing some clinical trials on CBD and the effect of CBD on eliminating some of the symptoms of chemotherapy.”
The experience of walking through the mock design was “unique and special,” said Irvine Mayor Farrah Khan.
The new cancer campus will be “a groundbreaker not only for Irvine but for all of Orange County,” Khan said, because residents will not have to travel for care.
“Seeing the growth of not only the hospital industries but also the MedTech in Irvine really goes to show that people here care about the community,” Khan said.
According to data provided by City of Hope, before its cancer center opened, nearly 20 percent of cancer patients left the county for advanced cancer care.
City of Hope is investing more than $1.5 billion, some of that funding coming from philanthropy, in the 73-bed cancer campus that will span 160,000 square feet, adjacent to the City of Hope’s outpatient cancer center that opened in August. Prior to the opening of the outpatient center, the hospital brought in more than 500 people to provide feedback on the design.
“As soon as I walked into the lobby here, I just felt like I could breathe,” Paolone said. “It’s not how it looks; it’s how it made me feel. I didn’t feel like I was in this scary, sterile place. It just felt warm.”
