Tucked among the labyrinthine corridors of Stanford Hospital is what administrators have dubbed the "war room." Inside, on a giant blackboard, planners have written "healing environments" and "get natural light into the building." Colorful line drawings depict a garden atrium and spacious treatment suites.
Despite the name, hospital officials aren't formulating battle plans -- they are planning a new 218,000-square-foot cancer treatment facility. The vision is a far cry from what Stanford offers now in its scattered oncology units. Many exam and treatment rooms today are in the dreary basement, some units so crowded that waiting patients have to huddle in the hallways. In one clinic the bathrooms are too small for wheelchair access. "The [treatment] outcomes are exceptional in spite of all this," says José Fernandez, the hospital's director of design and construction. "What we find is we have to be extremely clever to continue effective treatment."
The current facilities don't work because treatment has changed, says Charlotte Jacobs, director of Stanford's clinical cancer center. Radiation machines are bigger. Patients now get chemotherapy for more hours each week. And doctors work in multidisciplinary teams, requiring more conference areas.
A new building would solve the problems, officials say. The plans are in place, but Stanford needs the go-ahead from the Palo Alto City Council before building can begin. Earlier this year, an ad-hoc committee of the council recommended that the full panel postpone approval of any Stanford projects until Santa Clara County passes a sweeping new plan that would regulate new development on the majority of the University's 8,180 acres.
The University is expected to submit a draft of the master blueprint for growth in September. Later this year, plans for the cancer center should come before the council.
Larry Horton, '62, MA '66, the University's director of government and community relations, is optimistic about the center's chances: "I can't imagine they won't approve the plan on its merits."
