Spokane-based Rockwood Clinic PS has agreed to lease an additional 3,000 square feet of floor space next to its Cancer Treatment Center's Spokane Valley location to house the Breast Health Center it launched last fall.

The Breast Health Center currently is sharing space with the Cancer Treatment Center there, at 12410 E. Sinto.

Rockwood plans to remodel the additional space and move the Breast Health Center into it by mid-summer, but doesn't have a cost estimate available to release for the project, says Shelley Romanyszyn, the center's office manager.

In its new office, the Breast Health Center will continue to be staffed by the three surgeons who treat patients at the Cancer Treatment Center's Valley location, and it also will employ a breast radiologist and three or four additional support staff members, Romanyszyn says.

The Breast Health Center will occupy a space adjacent to the main floor of the 6,700-square-foot cancer treatment center, and a hallway between will connect the two for ease of access. Balance Architecture PC, of Spokane, is designing the remodeling project, but Rockwood hasn't selected a contractor yet, Romanyszyn says.

In the new Breast Health Center space, Rockwood Clinic will add a stereotactic needle biopsy suite, says Dr. Debbie Martinez, one of three surgeons at the center. Currently, patients must be referred to other providers for that test, Martinez says.

Rockwood Clinic also will move some other equipment from its Spokane Valley general practice clinic, at 14408 E. Sprague, to the Breast Health Center. It plans to include two mammogram rooms and two ultrasound rooms, as well as a separate waiting area with changing rooms and lockers, in the new center.

Patients who need additional testing or to obtain medical oncology services will be able to receive those services from Rockwood Clinic in the same building, Martinez says. The breast health practitioners hope the setup will help them reach their goal of reducing turnaround times for appointments and easing patient stress by enabling patients to receive much of their needed care in one place, Martinez says.

Combining the imaging and diagnostic services under one roof also will further the center's goal of providing a patient with a complete workup within 48 hours of an initial office visit, Martinez says. Rockwood will continue to offer breast ultrasound services at its downtown location, at 900 W. Fifth, and the surgeons will continue to see patients there once the new Breast Health Center office opens, Martinez says.

Patients at the center will be asked to provide a personal medical history as well as a history of the current problem, to complete a breast cancer risk assessment, and to undergo a breast exam. Each patient evaluation also will involve a review of any imaging studies and biopsies done previously. Though most breast cancer patients are women, the center also is open to male patients.