Within days of the building’s completion, MemorialCare Saddleback Medical Center officials this week celebrated the opening of what they call one of the “largest and most comprehensive” women’s healthcare centers in Southern California.
The 40,000-square-foot, three-level facility is a one-stop shop for women’s health and fills community care needs, doctors said. Construction began two years ago and cost about $70 million.
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“The idea of a comprehensive breast center that has all of the subspecialists involved with breast care under one roof is the ultimate in terms of quality care,” said Dr. Gary Levine, the pavilions director who has been with MemorailCare for a decade and before that led Hoag Hospital’s breast center. “We know traditionally women would go to a radiology facility for their mammogram and to another facility for an ultrasound, then somewhere else for a biopsy. If they were diagnosed, they would be sent somewhere else to see a surgeon, an oncologist, or a plastic surgeon.”
Levine said this cumbersome process often impacts the quality of care because information can be delayed or lost as patients move from facility to facility.
The new building, located directly across a parking lot from the main hospital in Laguna Hills, includes the already-established MemorialCare Breast Center. Those offices have now been moved to the new center.
The pavilion’s focus is not only on treating diseases or conditions, but also on a woman’s entire wellness needs.
Described as a spa-like environment, the facility and its programs will offer advanced technology and community education services. The education center includes nutritional counseling, wellness classes, and options for yoga and Pilates classes.
Among offerings are mental wellness support, a survivorship program, breast care navigators and a women’s health services navigator. The facility will also perform oncology and OBGYN surgeries. Patients will also have access to certified nurse midwives, genetic counseling, a skin cancer program, and a cancer care boutique.
Levine said doctors and care staff have been gradually added as the breast care center has grown. The Laguna Hills campus will have the largest location, but Levine added that MemorialCare in total has nine breast centers across Southern California.
Last year, he said MemeorialCare’s breast center in Laguna Hills diagnosed more than 600 new patients; with the health system’s other eight centers, that number was 1,200.
“Women have careers and families,” Levine said. “Prioritizing their own healthcare is often difficult. Having a women’s health pavilion certainly promotes this.”
