Orange County’s first dedicated cancer hospital is building toward a winter opening

City of Hope is on its way to opening Orange County’s first hospital dedicated exclusively to cancer care around the end of the year.

The six-story hospital in Irvine will complement the outpatient center next door, which has served approximately 35,000 community members since opening in 2022.  City of Hope leaders offered a sneak preview of the state-of-the-art, $452-million hospital on Friday.

The hospital will be “different from something you’ve seen before,” said City of Hope Orange County President Annette Walker. “This hospital is designed specifically for fighting cancer.”

So, what does that look like?

For starters, the hospital will have the seven largest operating rooms in the county, said Physician-In-Chief Ed Kim.

“We’re building these operating rooms for the future,” he said. “We need to be adaptable.”

The rooms are twice as big as standard operating rooms, Kim said, with space to accommodate “technology of the future,” such as large robotic and digital equipment.

Secondly, every inpatient room will have a view of Shady Canyon or the Santa Ana Mountains. And, each floor will have a terrace featuring panoramic views of the county.

“We’re bringing nature in, light in,” Walker said. “This is sunshine therapy.”

Kim added that the hospital is focused on integrative medicine and holistic patient care.

“We’re going to immerse every sense of a person undergoing treatment,” he said, “so it’s a holistic approach to healing — physically, mentally and spiritually.”

The hospital will have 73 beds, more than what any general hospital can accommodate for cancer patients, Kim said.

Jeff Fitzhugh of Huntington Beach agreed with City of Hope leaders that this was unlike any hospital he’d ever seen, including City of Hope’s original cancer center in Duarte.

“I’m blown away,” Fitzhugh said. “To have this in my backyard where I live — I can’t tell you what that means to me.”

Five years ago, Fitzhugh was diagnosed with multiple myeloma and was treated at City of Hope in Duarte.

He had to drive to that facility every day for weeks leading up to his successful surgery.

Cutting that commute for thousands of patients is one of the goals of City of Hope’s expansion into Orange County, its leaders have said from the beginning. Irvine is the second comprehensive cancer center after Duarte that City of Hope will have in California.

After his operation, he stayed a month in the Duarte hospital, during which time his wife and two children couldn’t visit him due to lack of space, he said.

“This new hospital in Orange County is a game-changer for people like me,” he said, fighting back tears. “To see these rooms — I didn’t have a view like that.”

Each Orange County hospital room will feature pullout beds where family members or caretakers can stay the night. People in Fitzhugh’s position won’t have to go through their recoveries alone due to space constraints, Walker said.

The new hospital will also feature two family suites designed to offer additional space for loved ones supporting patients requiring an extended stay for treatment.

The first floor will also have an evaluation and treatment center, essentially an urgent care for cancer patients too immunocompromised to safely go to a general emergency room, Kim said.

Aside from these noticeable spaces, the building will also sport smaller differences compared to other hospitals.

Walker calls these “elevated finishes.”

These include big windows, high-quality toilet paper, more art in every hallway, organic food in the cafeteria, classy backsplash tiles in the restrooms and finer sheets for patients’ bedding.

“This is more than just another building, another hospital, another healthcare institution,” said Irvine Mayor Larry Agran. “This reflects humanity, heart and soul. That’s what we stand for here in Irvine.”

Agran said that healthcare providers, including City of Hope, Hoag and UC Irvine, have recently committed nearly $4 billion in opening new facilities in Irvine. Kaiser Permanente has a major hospital in the city, as well.

“We are becoming the preeminent healthcare and medical technology hub south of Los Angeles,” Agrain said.

Still, the road ahead before City of Hope can open its hospital’s doors will be filled with challenges.

The hospital needs to hire 500 additional employees, including 50 physicians.

“We’re recruiting an army,” Kim said.

“Really great healthcare workers are in short supply, and I’m looking for people that aren’t just healthcare workers,” Walker added. “I’m looking for people that are called to do this kind of work. Not everybody can or wants to work in the field of cancer because it has its ups and downs.”

As it marches toward completion, the hospital will also have to navigate the recent economic volatility.

“We’re on time and on budget,” Walker said. “I’ll just make a comment to say that being an old person in healthcare, I’ve lived through a lot of talk about the ‘sky is falling.’ We always adjust. We always find a way. Whatever disruption we have, we’re going to be okay.”