Cancer Control Strategy Update
Monday, March 19, 2012 @ 1:06 PM
Front Row: Dr. Michelle Sutter, Minister of Justice Shirley Bond, Cancer Society BC Yukon Chair Lorraine Grant, and Mary Kordyban among those celebrating the work done so far on the Northern Cancer Control Strategy.
Prince George, B.C.- As the Cancer Centre construction continues in Prince George, the message today from Northern Health, is that the Centre is just one piece of the Northern Cancer Control Strategy.
A new report released today, titled Northern Cancer Control Strategy: Are We Making a Difference?, outlines the strategy’s progress which includes the construction of the Cancer Centre in Prince George, but looks beyond that project to the other elements in the strategy including:
- Expansion of the northern community cancer clinic network to 10 clinics, with two new clinics established in Queen Charlotte and Vanderhoof. This has proven to be particularly important for patients on Haida Gwaii. Dr. Tracy Morton said he often had patients who would refuse treatment because of the costs involved in the ferry travel and accommodation for treatment at hospitals in the lower mainland “Frankly they just couldn’t afford it.”
- Installation of TeleOncology units in 15 sites across northern B.C., providing cancer patients with the opportunity to videoconference with specialists, reducing the need to travel as often;
- Recruitment of all of the top level physicians and technologists needed
- Formation of a regional support care team who liaise with community cancer clinic staff and provide services to cancer patients across the region. The team includes an oncology dietitian, pharmacist, social worker, and education coordinator;
- Development of a cancer research infrastructure in northern B.C. focused on improving early detection and the delivery of cancer care in northern communities;
- Aboriginal-focused initiatives, including an Aboriginal Cancer Care Strategy;
- Prevention program activities including the launch of a region wide radon gas awareness campaign and enhancement of tobacco cessation programs in northern B.C.
In addition, the Canadian Cancer Society is constructing Kordyban Lodge. The new lodge will provide affordable comfortable caring accommodation for patients and their caregivers from communities across the north who travel to Prince George for treatment.
Dr. Charles Jago, who co authored the report on the need for a Northern Cancer Strategy, and on which this northern plan is based, says he will celebrate the opening of the Cancer Centre, “But it’s more than the Centre , and this is an opportunity to tell the story about how we’re serving a vast region, how we’ve improved these local clinics, how we’ve expanded them, the kind of range the kind of services that we’re providing.”
Comments
We are truly fortunate to have cancer treatment facilities closer to many who live in the north.
It is my hope that more money and more study would be directed towards how to keep from getting cancer.
Based on the increasing incidence of cancer, I do not think we have done enough in the area of prevention at all.
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