San Antonio Regional Hospital (SARH) is developing a comprehensive Center for Aging to serve the growing number of older adults in the San Bernardino and East Los Angeles communities. The Center, expected to open in 2024, will offer a compilation of primary care, specialty care, and ancillary care needs for the senior population of the region.
The Upland-based healthcare provider is developing the Center on a $22 million, 185,000-square-foot office building that sits on 11 acres of land, along with an adjacent 2-acre undeveloped parcel of land in Rancho Cucamonga.
Physicians News Network sat down with John Chapman, President and CEO of SARH, to discuss the significance of the concept as a “one-stop shop” for seniors and their caregivers.
“We will have a dozen or so Family Medicine geriatric practices leasing out the building, with service lines that are senior-focused. You can imagine specialty services like Podiatry, Ortho, Cardiology, Urology, Dermatology, and, of course, Ophthalmology. San Antonio Regional Hospital would also place in support services such as Laboratory, Radiology, Rehab Services, including a Fall Center, a Pharmacy, and Audiology so seniors can get their hearing aids repaired and replaced,” said Chapman.
The response to the concept and the facilities has been outstanding. “The facilities are top-notch. It’s a place everyone, physicians, staff, seniors and their caregivers will feel good about. We haven't even marketed much and I've already had almost 20 medical groups talk about getting into the building,” Chapman shared.
Older adults age 60+ account for 20% of California's population. In Riverside County, 531,000 are 60+, and Los Angeles County is home to more than 2 million older adults, with those numbers expected to climb in the coming years.
“When we were looking at our demographics and what patient populations are going to look like, seniors, at least in our region, qualifying for senior care and Medicare are going to experience double-digit increases over the next three to five years,” Chapman said.
Ease of access is a key part of the project which will include transportation options and a centralized scheduling system.
“The building has a shared scheduling system, and the purpose of that is so all the appointments for a majority of the appointments could be done the same day in the building for that patient.”
Chapman said the Center should start having offices open in early 2024. “We're starting build-outs for those Physicians who are already signing leases, and doing build-outs for our ancillaries, so a completion of this building is probably a year away, but we expect to open up sections of it starting in about 6 months.”
Physicians interested in becoming a part of this endeavor can contact Melinda Gonzalez at Melinda.Gonzalez@sarh.org.