Getting in touch with the unique needs of cancer patients guided the design of Cancer Care Northwest's $15 million facility that’s now under construction in Spokane Valley.

“We thought of putting our building out on the main thoroughfare, but then we asked why?” says CEO Warren Benincosa. “People won’t be driving by and see our sign and think to themselves, ‘Oh yes, I have been meaning to stop in there for a visit.’” Instead, he says, “Our business is mostly referral-based, and we want our patients to see something different when they turn into our driveway. The building is on the back of our lot, and there will be a nice, peaceful passageway up to our very ‘noninstitutional’ looking building with gardens and water features.”

And the building, housing 40 employees, including a team of seven physicians, will o er convenience via a more integrated approach to treatment. Medical, surgical and radiation oncology services will all be available under one roof. “That same patient who came in one day to see their medical oncologist would not have left the building without seeing their whole team of integrated specialists,” says Benincosa. “[They will] all work in concert to render the best services in the optimum way to get the best results and outcomes.

The project, designed by Spokane’s Blue Room Architecture and Design, is expected to open in October.

Samurai, Sunrise, Sunset @ Northwest Museum of Arts & Culture

Tuesdays-Sundays, 10 a.m.-5 p.m. Continues through June 1
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Anne McGregor

Anne McGregor is a contributor to the Inlander and the editor of InHealth. She is married to Inlander editor/publisher Ted S. McGregor, Jr.