Christus St. Vincent opens $80 million cancer center in Santa Fe

SANTA FE — Christus St. Vincent Regional Medical Center’s new $80 million cancer center opened this month on the hospital’s Santa Fe campus, aiming to expand access to care for patients across northern New Mexico.

The facility will increase the number of cancer patients the hospital sees daily by about 50%, from around 250 to 375, said Dr. Andrea Teague, vice president of cancer services at Christus St. Vincent.

“We’ve been really cognizant of the issues with access for New Mexicans,” Teague said.

The new 80,000-square-foot clinic will offer expanded treatment for breast, lung and gastrointestinal cancers, and a wider range of diagnostic, surgical and radiological services, thanks in part to a new team of six oncologists and four advanced practice clinicians. Christus St. Vincent is the largest medical facility north of Albuquerque and south of Pueblo, Colorado. The cancer center in Santa Fe is the only comprehensive cancer treatment center in northern New Mexico, according to Teague. The closest comparable clinic is at the University of New Mexico in Albuquerque, which is a long way to travel for a patient in the throes of chemotherapy living in the northern part of the state, she said.

In addition to medical treatment, the remodeled clinic provides a slew of holistic services — physical therapy, acupuncture, social work, registered dietitians, herbal medicine, mindfulness training and genetic counselors so patients and their families can understand their cancer risk.

The facility at 445 St. Michael’s Drive is “designed entirely around the patient experience, ensuring that patients receive seamless, fully integrated care in one location,” said Christus St. Vincent President and CEO Lillian Montoya at the center’s opening reception Thursday.

The terracotta and glass building also has an art walk for patients and their families, with more than a hundred New Mexico-themed pieces of art by local artists.

“We want to decrease and limit that anxiety,” Montoya said. “They’re coming in here feeling vulnerable. But every corner you turn, you’re going to see beauty, beautiful sunlight, beautiful skies, right? But also art.”

Planning began on the new center four years ago, Teague said, and the hospital broke ground on the new facility in June 2023. This April, Montoya was tapped as senior vice president for the New Mexico region of Christus Health, the Texas-based Catholic nonprofit health system that includes Christus St. Vincent in Santa Fe.

The expansion of the cancer center comes as the health system is also growing its presence elsewhere in northern New Mexico. In March, Christus St. Vincent announced plans for a new 25,000-square-foot multi-specialty facility in Los Alamos. It also plans to broaden its coverage to Taos, Teague said.

“Our continued goal is to be able to do as much as we can for our patients in the place that they live,” she said.