Intermountain Park City Hospital opened a $50 million cancer center on Aug. 20, giving Wasatch Back patients access to radiation therapy without driving to Salt Lake City.

The 10,800-square-foot facility at 900 Round Valley Drive brings radiation treatment to the community for the first time and expands chemotherapy and surgical oncology services. The hospital previously offered chemotherapy infusions but could not provide radiation. The center can treat up to 1,500 patients a year, according to TownLift.

Its 18 infusion bays replace the four bays that served patients for the past several years. The biggest addition is an advanced linear accelerator for radiation treatment, a service rarely available in rural hospitals.

Before the center opened, patients like Midway resident Jim Becker, 67, had no local option for radiation. Becker was diagnosed with squamous cell carcinoma in April and drove to Intermountain's Murray facility for chemoradiation, logging more than 3,500 miles. His treatment days ranged from three to seven hours, on top of more than two hours of driving.

"The whole driving to Salt Lake, it was exhausting and expensive," Becker told the Park Record.

He is heading toward remission.

Park City resident Dave Staley faced a similar burden, driving 45 minutes each way to Salt Lake City every day for seven weeks to treat throat cancer, the Park Record reported. Staley befriended another patient whose husband drove her four hours from Duchesne County daily for the same treatment.

Weston said the hospital is also expanding cancer surgeries, including breast, throat, gastrointestinal and prostate procedures, plus Mohs surgery for skin cancer. The hospital opened in 2009 and has undergone several expansions since.

The cancer center is at 900 Round Valley Drive, Suite 200. Patients can call 801-357-0775 or 385-212-3199.