SLO County city to get new cancer center after 15 years. What it will offer

After years of driving over 40 minutes for treatment, northern San Luis Obispo County cancer patients will soon have a new option closer to home.

Opening July 28, the new UCLA Health Atascadero Cancer Care Center will fill a local gap in cancer care.

UCLA Health has had a cancer care center in downtown San Luis Obispo since 2019.

But with growing community need, UCLA signed off on opening the Atascadero location, spearheaded by UCLA Health oncologists Brian DiCarlo and Joseph Cleveland.

According to DiCarlo, nearly half of the SLO center’s patients are from the underserved North County area, where it has been nearly 15 years since the last oncology center was open.

Setting up a location closer to those patients will help better serve them throughout treatment, the oncologists said.

“To be able to offer therapy closer to home increases the likelihood patients will be able to undergo chemotherapy, stay consistent with treatment and seek care when they need it,” Cleveland said.

It is difficult for patients who may not have a reliable way to travel to the SLO clinic to access consistent care.

The effort for some patients to get from their home to SLO can be a huge barrier to their decision to seek cancer treatment, Cleveland said.

Being located closer to patients also may help prevent unnecessary hospitalizations because they will be able to get to the center quickly, Cleveland said.

And the news so far has gone over well with prospective patients.

When patients from North County heard about the Atascadero clinic, some started crying tears of joy, Cleveland said.

What will new SLO County cancer center feature?

The Atascadero center is currently accepting new patients.

The set up will be similar to the SLO cancer care center, with 15 infusion chairs and the ability to treat up to 50 patients a day with active treatments like chemotherapy, immunotherapy or injections, DiCarlo said.

It will also implement a Phase One program, which means looking at early stage trials and new medications. The SLO center has four research coordinators, and the Atascadero location will have two.

At the new clinic, DiCarlo and Cleveland are aiming to have 30 to 40 different clinical trials at any given time that will cover the spectrum of different types of cancer. This includes treatments for breast cancer, colon cancer, prostate cancer and pancreatic cancer. They also will have hematologic blood cancer trials for leukemia, lymphoma and multiple myeloma.

“These are the same exact trials you would get down in Los Angeles or Westwood, but you never have to travel out of North County,” DiCarlo said.

Cleveland will be the primary doctor in Atascadero. DiCarlo and two other doctors will rotate every couple days between the SLO and Atascadero locations. Along with new hires and some current staff switching to the Atascadero location, the center will open with 30 employees.

In the next three years, they are also planning to open a UCLA comprehensive cancer center in SLO. All the treatments will be under one roof, including the medical oncology team, radiation oncology and surgery.