St. Charles Health System plans to build a $90 million cancer treatment center in Redmond to improve access for patients living in rural communities.

While the announcement comes at a time when the health system has sustained three quarters of financial losses, the health system says the funds were secured in the fall of 2020. They can only be used for new construction. The new cancer center in Redmond is being proposed for the corner of Canal Boulevard and Kingwood Avenue, according to the hospital system’s announcement on Monday.

“We know that many of our patients travel farther than patients at other cancer centers in the country for their care,” said Dr. Linyee Chang, St. Charles Cancer Center medical director, in a prepared statement. “Some patients opt out of treatment because of the travel and that’s not ok.”

The Oregon Nurses Association, which represents 1,200 professionals at St. Charles’ four hospitals, questioned where the health system was going to get enough staff to care for the patients.

“St. Charles is so understaffed that nurses are forced to work 12-hour shifts without meals and breaks to care for patients and cover up St. Charles’ chronic staffing shortages,” said Kevin Mealy, Oregon Nurses Association spokesman. “When there aren’t enough nurses, patients have longer wait times and hospital stays, get more infections and injuries, are more likely to be readmitted to the hospital and are more likely to die.

“St. Charles can afford to buy a new $90 million building but patients and caregivers are already paying the price for St. Charles’ unsafe staffing.”

The community deserves easy access to cancer treatment care, Mealy said.

The hospital system estimates 40% of its patients coming to the cancer center in Bend now drive from Redmond, Madras and Prineville. If those patients need daily radiation treatment they can travel more than 50 miles in a day, according to the health system.

Construction could begin by the end of the year with the center opening by 2025, said Kayley Mendenhall, St. Charles Health System communications and marketing director. The proposed facility will include equipment for radiation oncology, chemotherapy treatments, nutrition, massage and acupuncture, according to the health system.

St. Charles is among the largest employers in the region, with about 4,500 employees.

While fourth quarter financial statements are not available yet, the health system posted a $28 million loss incurred through November 2022. It’s been a hard couple of years for health systems in Oregon and nationwide as they struggled to meet community demand during the height of the pandemic at the same time experiencing a severe nursing shortage.

The financial woes prompted bond credit rating company, Moody’s, to lower the health system’s credit rating in September from stable to negative.