Prince George to be home for new cancer clinic

A long anticipated project for Northern BC took a giant step forward today in Prince George, as provincial politicians and health officials announced the the Prince George Cancer centre is a go.

Construction on the centre will start in 2009 and by 2012 Prince George will be the central base for the province's newest addition to health care in the north, designed to serve the needs of a wide section of Northern BC.

The public/private partnership project will construct the 99.5 million dollar centre that will require some 4200 square metres, with additional renovations required at Prince George Regional Hospital for a number of affiliated services required for the cancer centre.

Spin off effects will be felt throughout the Northern Health region, as enhancements are planned for up to eleven Northern Health sites in communities outside Prince George.

The ambitious timetable for construction will bring the cancer clinic on stream three years earlier than recommended in a cancer strategy report prepared for the provincial government.

Deputy Premier and Prince George MLA Shirley Bond made the announcement today, the Prince George website Opinion 250 had details as did the Prince George Citizen.

Province Approves Budget For Northern Cancer Centre
Opinion 250 News
July 18, 2008

Prince George, B.C. – The Provincial Government has formally approved the near $100 million dollars needed for the new Northern Cancer Centre.

The money will go towards renovations to the Prince George Regional Hospital, radiation and diagnostic equipment and infrastructure expansion for cancer care services throughout the north.

The project will be pursued as a public-private partnership. The next stage will see an request for qualifications issued to invited the private sector to take part in the process. After that, a short list of teams will be invited to submit proposals to design build, finance and maintain the facility. The request for qualifications for the new cancer centre is expected to be issued by the end of the month.

Deputy Premier Shirley Bond says the construction is expected to start in late 2009 and the facility and the facility will be officially opened in 2012, which is 3 years earlier than was recommended.

Minister of Forests, Pat Bell, said it was local Surgeon Michelle Sutter who delivered the initial information that for the North, having people travel elsewhere for treatment wasn't an option any more. Bell wanted to offer thanks to Sutter for her efforts.

The cancer centre will provide:

--4,200 square metre centre which will include radiation therapy treatment

--1,000 square metre addistion and renovation to PGRH for a new 6 bed oncology unit as well as expansion of pathology, lab and diagnostic imaging service

--Enhancement of up to eleven Northern Health sites in communities outside Prince George
acquisition of new equipment and information technology

--The cancer centre will bebuilt to be energy efficient and achieve LEED gold certification
The bill for the facility is $99.5 million dollars.

Northern cancer clinic fast forwarded
Written by BERNICE TRICK
Citizen staff
Friday, 18 July 2008

The long-awaited cancer centre for northern B.C. will be built three years earlier than anticipated.Construction will start in late 2009 with a completion goal for 2012, Shirley Bond, MLA for Prince George-Mount Robson, announced Friday in Prince George.

"That's three years ahead of the completion schedule recommended in the cancer strategy report," said Bond.To ensure the project goes ahead as planned, the B.C. government has allocated $99.5 million in capital funds to the cancer strategy for the North.The funds cover costs of the new B.C. Cancer Agency Centre for the North, renovations to Prince George Regional Hospital, radiation and diagnostic equipment and infrastructure throughout the North, Bond said.

The new 4,200-square-metre (42,600-square-foot ) centre, connected to PGRH, will include two linear accelerators used to deliver radiation treatment. As well, a 1,000-square metre (11,110- square-foot) - addition to PGRH will provide a six-bed oncology unit, an expansion of pathology, laboratory and diagnostic services and office space for new cancer care The strategy also includes enhancement of about 11 sites in the Northern Health region including equipment and information technology.

The next step by the end of July is to issue requests for qualifications, develop a short list of teams and invite them to submit proposals to design, build, finance and maintain the cancer centre facility.

Prince George cancer centre will benefit the north in many ways

The travel debate will most likely go on as far as cancer treatment plans for residents of the Northwest are concerned, however the expected opening of a cancer centre in Prince George by 2012 should still provide great benefits for all communities of the Northern Health Authority. At least that's the opinion being offered from Prince George in the days following last weeks announcement by Premier Gordon Campbell.

Aware of the concerns from the farthest away communities about the potential travel problems associated with a trip to Prince George, especially in the winter, proponents of the Prince George centre are boosting the knowledge base benefits that the centre might provide to outlying regions such as Terrace and Prince Rupert.

The Daily News provided details on how the issue is being presented in Thursday's paper.

Cancer centre brings expertise
By Kris Schumacher
The Daily News
Thursday, September 27, 2007
Pages one and three

The new cancer centre to be built in Prince George by 2012 doesn't solve the travel issues faced patients, say medical professionals, but it does bring expertise closer to home.

The new facility will provide radiation therapy to patients, eliminating the need for many cancer afflicted individuals to travel south for that particular treatment.

However there are still concerns that some communities won't benefit as much as anticipated from having a centre in Prince George.

"If you listen to the arguments that people give for a centre there, such as being able to get treatment and stay at home, that's fine for the people in Prince George, but those are really the only people," said Terrace physician Dr. Geoff Appleton.

"Everyone outside of there still has the problem of travel. For Terrace and Prince Rupert it will still be easier to access Vancouver by a two-hour flight, and that should still be allowed."

Retired nurse and Prince Rupert resident Peggy Davenport believes that the creation of a cancer centre in the North is going to be helpful for many people, but that it should not take attention away from recognizing the transportation problems that still exist for many rural patients.

"As it stands, there isn't a direct flight available from Prince Rupert to Prince George, and people who are under treatment for cancer cannot tolerate the long bus ride, because it's too long and it's very hard to do," said Davenport.

"If it was easy to do, I'm sure that people from Northern Health who live in Prince George would be riding the bus when they make their trips West."

There are talks between the Canadian Cancer Society and the provincial government of creating a cancer lodge for patients and their families, similar to what currently exists in Vancouver.

Whether a similar lodge will be built to complement the Prince George facility is yet to be determined, but regardless it will still leave many rural patients with the hardship of getting there.

"We've always been concerned with access issues when it comes to cancer services, and we know that people in the North have real difficulties when it comes to transportation," said Barbara Kaminsky, Chief Executive Officer of the Canadian Cancer Society B.C. and Yukon Division.

"Frankly even to access Prince George from Prince Rupert in the winter months can be a problem."

Aside from physically visiting the Prince George centre, there will still be other ways that rural cancer patients can benefit from the creation of a Northern centre.

Dr. Ronald Chapman is the executive director for the Northern Cancer Control Progam, and notes that communities like Prince Rupert, who have already been administering systemic therapy to cancer patients, will benefit greatly by having local doctors supported by those working at the Prince George centre.

"The most positive development out of this is the centre will supplement the regional cancer centres in all of British Columbia, and it brings a facility much closer to the North than there has ever been before," he said.

"We're getting experts in the North which we previously haven't had, and it becomes a regional resource since those people will also have a responsibility to support community cancer clinics around the region."

Prince Rupert residents have questions about proposed cancer centre in Prince George

While no one in the Northwest is begrudging Prince George's recent success in finally receiving the go ahead for a Cancer centre to be based in the Northern Interior city, there are some vital questions from a Northwest point of view that have yet to be answered.

The natural migration of residents in the northwest for cancer treatment has been on a north-south pattern for years, many families have a support system built in down on the lower mainland or Victoria, a comforting situation in a time of high personal stress.

As the current scenario works out, most patients requiring treatment would fly to the southern cities where facilities exist. There is a well developed system in place for patients and their families that has served the northwest well since put in place, and many are wondering if that support system is now at risk.

The concern is that with a new centre planned for Prince George that local residents will be forced to travel east west for treatment. On transportation alone, the requirement to travel to Prince George would add a number of hours in travel time, as the only way east is by rail or road and a lengthy travel period.

For those seeking treatment from the Northwest the comfort zone has been in the south, many are worried that all of that will change now in a bid to centralize treatment programs for the North in Prince George, they are hopeful for reassuring words on the issue.

The Daily News featured the debate as its front page story in Wednesday's paper.

CANCER CENTRE PLANS LEAVE QUESTIONS UNANSWERED

By Kris Schumacher
The Daily News
Wednesday, September 26, 2007

Pages one and three

Friday's announcement from the provincial government committing to a multifaceted strategy for Northern cancer patients comes as a relief to many, but still leaves some questions unanswered.

Premier Gordon Campbell said a new cancer treatment centre attached to the Prince George Regional Hospital will help improve care and close to home access for Northern British Columbians when it becomes operable in 2012.

"I'm delighted with the announcement, because it's been recognized if we could deliver some of those services closer to home it makes it a lot easier for the patient and the families to be together," said Northwest Regional District Hospital Chair Tony Briglio.

"Anything that brings appropriate, qualified medicine within or closer to our communities is a positive thing."

A fear that patients and families on the North Coast have already expressed is whether they will have a choice between using the new Prince George cancer centre, or opting to continue travelling down South for treatment. The Canadian Cancer Society has lodging for patients and their families adjacent to the Vancouver treatment centre which has proved to be an ideal place for patients from Northern communities.

"If patients were forced to go to Prince George in order for the treatment consultation to be fully funded by B.C. Health Insurance, it would be an issue," said Peggy Davenport, a retired nurse and Prince Rupert resident. "Down South there's lodging for people who come in from out of town where people can stay for less money, have their meals provided, and if there's enough room, have their family members stay with them. It's also a wonderful opportunity for patients to speak with other people who are going through treatment, and there's help available to them there."

In the government funded Consultation for Improved Cancer Care in Northern B.C. report, of which the Prince George cancer centre was a recommendation, the idea of a similar cancer lodge to support patients and their families was included.

While it has yet to be officially announced whether a facility of that nature will be constructed, the Canadian Cancer Society is willing to explore the possibility alongside the province.

"Certainly it's been a tradition that we've had in the Society that when a stand-alone cancer centre is built and people have to travel long distances to get there, we're happy to look at the development of a lodge," said Chief Executive Officer of the Canadian Cancer Society, B.C. and Yukon Division Barbara Kaminsky. "When that happens we fund the construction through donor dollars, and look to the provincial government to help with the operating costs."

Generally half of the operating cost would be covered by user fees, and the other half would come from funding by some level of the provincial government. Early stage conversations between the Cancer Society and government representatives planning the centre have happened, but Kaminsky said no decisions have been made yet.

Whether or not lodging facilities will be available alongside the new centre, it's still the hope of many that it will still be the choice of patients whether to use the Prince George centre, or travel to one of the southern treatment facilities.

"Prince George certainly is a ways away, but it also has a tremendous catchment area within that outlying region," said Briglio. "It's a matter of choice for patients. If one patients choice is they want to go to Prince George that's their choice. But other patients might want to go where we've traditionally gone to Vancouver, and we've always had that choice."