SPOKANE VALLEY-- A Spokane based cancer center is expanding and opening its doors to new patients, which doctors say is more necessary than ever before.
They call it a crucial investment in the community. About 3,000 new cancer cases are diagnosed each year in Spokane, and many more are already fighting the deadly disease.
The expansion has been a vision of Dr. Arvind Chaudhry’s for two years. He wanted to expand his current practice into Spokane Valley as a new way to let Valley patients stay in the Valley.
He also saw a new version of cancer care in the plan. The Spokane Valley Cancer Center will take an integrated approach by offering yoga therapy, music, massage and acupuncture. The facility will combine healing with research. Dr. Chaudhry wants this to be a place to get better, not a place to be sick.
Rather than sending off lab tests to other states, the Spokane Valley location will have the technology to diagnose patients, as well, to allow for faster treatment.
“Our patients already face so many challenges and hurdles. It’s very vital for our mission to go to where they are and where they want us to be,” Dr. Chaudry said. “We want to do it right here. We want to be able to get the answers faster because it impact patients’ therapy. Why should a patient wait a week to get their results back? They should get them back the next day.”
Blueprints for the $7 million project show specialized rooms for integrated therapy. Once the clinic is up and running, it will house 30 new employees. Construction already began on the facility on East Mission. Doctors expect to open the doors in about 10 months.
Despite the down economy, Dr. Chaudhry said this is the perfect time to build, and nothing should get in the way of fighting cancer.
