Cancer Centre Open House Draws Small Crowd

By Michelle Cyr-Whiting

City residents attend Open House hosted by Northern Health

Prince George, B.C. -  An open house on the new B.C. Cancer Agency Centre for the North got off to a quiet start this evening, but city residents continued to stream in well into the second hour...

The information session ran from 7pm until 9pm this evening and was hosted by Northern Health in the auditorium at the health unit.  Residents were invited to stock up on information pamphlets on construction details of the new centre and on the Northern Cancer Control Strategy -- the strategy's goals include reducing cancer incidence rates in the north and improving the quality of life for patients in the north living with cancer.

The plan was to have a looping video showing a 'fly-through' of the future building, but many of those in attendance couldn't hear the narration that went with the video and Chief Project Officer, Hal Collier stepped in to do his own 'play-by-play'...

Model in photo at right shows the new Cancer Centre as if you were standing on Alward Street looking towards Lethbridge Street.  (Grey building to the left is the new parkade, natural wood buildings are existing hospital and buildings) To see the actual fly-through video, click this link

Collier went over the main features of the new facility: its front doors face onto Lethbridge Street, a two-level covered connection will link the Cancer Centre to the University Hospital of Northern B.C., there will be a therapeutic garden between the centre and the hospital, and the centre itself will have a 'living roof' using local plants to absorb rainwater, insulate the building, and offer patients and staff some greenspace.

Both Collier and Les Waldie from the Canadian Cancer Society answered numerous questions from those in the audience about the centre and the future Northern Cancer Lodge, which will accomodate out-of-town cancer patients and their families.  (click here for previous story)

When asked whether the Cancer Centre could be expanded in the future, Collier says the building is designed in such a way that it can be pushed out on a few sides.  But, he says, unlike some cancer centres in more populated areas that open at capacity, he expects the northern centre will have sufficient capacity for quite some time.

As to when the new facility will open, he joked that he has to have it open in 2012, or he's a dead man.  He says there's two final times:  the point the building is complete and the point you have the first patient in and, right now, he says everything is looking fine and it looks like the first patient will be in by the end of 2012.

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