Providence Swedish expands cancer care in Snohomish County

Published 1:30 am Wednesday, July 8, 2026

EVERETT — When Julie Bolser was diagnosed with breast cancer last May, she had an important decision to make.

Living on Camano Island, she considered multiple places to receive ongoing care, including as far away as Seattle. But when she learned that a new infusion center was opening in Everett the same day she was supposed to receive her first chemotherapy infusion, it seemed meant to be.

On Sept. 23, Bolser became the first patient to receive an infusion at the new infusion center and oncology practice at Providence Regional Medical Center Everett.

Within a few months, the center was reaching seven-year patient targets, said Dr. Ashwani Rajput, regional executive medical director of Providence Swedish Cancer Institute.

“That just screamed to us that there was a need in our community to provide this care and provide this excellent service close to home,” Rajput said.

The infusion center started with four chairs and almost immediately needed to open four additional chairs to keep up with demand. Now, Providence Swedish is in the process of further expansion, with a planned exam room and six additional chairs for a total of 14.

In June, Swedish Edmonds opened an expanded and renamed infusion center — the Jeffery C. Ward, M.D. Infusion Center — named after an oncologist who worked at Swedish Edmonds for more than 30 years and died in 2022. The center now has twice as many chairs, going from 19 to 38.

Over the past few years, Providence Swedish started to notice a high number of referrals coming from the Everett area to Swedish Edmonds.

“What we were seeing here in this area is it was taking longer than ideal to get your first appointment with an oncologist and then start your treatments,” said Dawn Gilbert, senior director of cancer services at Providence Regional Medical Center Everett.

Providence Swedish staff are having ongoing discussions about how to expand cancer services even further, Rajput said.

While cancer care is expanding in Snohomish County, access to care still remains a barrier for many residents, especially residents of color and LGBTQ+ residents, said Robin Sparks, founder of the C-Suite Center for Hope in Marysville. Through her organization, Sparks helps connect people in the county with cancer care.

“I would say cancer care in Snohomish County is stronger than it ever has been,” she said. “… But access to care is profoundly unequal.”

The Everett center is mostly seeing patients from the Everett area, Gilbert said, but also from north Snohomish County and Island County.

Having cancer care close to home can make a world of difference for patients, Gilbert and Rajput said. Not having to travel as far can cut down on increased costs that already come with a cancer diagnosis. At Providence Everett, having the infusion center also means local patients have better access to wraparound services — including social workers, dietitians and art therapy — and clinical research.

“No one wants to travel far when you’re not feeling well, especially if you have family members that are coming with you, visiting with you there,” she said. “You just want that to be in your own community.”

Although Bolser lives on Camano Island now, she was born and raised in Everett. Growing up, her grandparents had a house on Colby Avenue just a block away from Providence Everett, so she’s comfortable with Providence, she said. Bolser said she’s grateful she didn’t go all the way to Seattle for care.

“I feel like I’m getting as good a care as I would have if I would have gone that far,” she said.

Bolser remembers one day of her treatment when there was a pain in her neck. She was able to get a scan the same day at the hospital and found out she had a blood clot in her jugular vein. Dr. Subhash Sharma put her on a blood thinner right away.

“He potentially saved my life,” she said.

Bolser is now done with chemotherapy and will continue to go to the infusion center every three weeks for immunotherapy until November.

“I feel very fortunate and blessed that that’s where I ended up,” she said.

Correction: A previous version of this article misstated that the Providence plans to add 10 chairs to its Everett infusion center. Providence plans to add six chairs for a total of 14. A previous version also misspelled the name of the Jeffery C. Ward, M.D. Infusion Center.

Jenna Peterson: 425-339-3486; jenna.peterson@heraldnet.com; X: @jennarpetersonn.