The centrepiece may be the B.C. Cancer Centre for the North in Prince George, but there is plenty more to the Northern Cancer Control Strategy and dignitaries gathered Monday to celebrate the progress made in those other areas.
"I know we're all proud and excited about the new building but it's much, much more than that," said Prince George-Valemount MLA Shirley Bond during the event, held at the University Hospital of Northern B.C. (UNHBC).
Goals of the $106-million strategy, launched in 2008 and with roots dating back to 2005 when Bond was the Health Services Minister, are to decrease incidents of cancer, increase survival rates, improve the quality of life and access to services for northerners.
"We have been firm believers that it isn't acceptable that you should have to travel away from the people that you love the most when you need cancer care, particularly radiology, and we're about to change that in the North forever," Bond said.
Expansion of the northern community cancer clinic network to 10 clinics with two new clinics established in Vanderhoof and Haida Gwaii was one aspect Bond highlighted. She also noted renovations and improvements to other clinics in Terrace, Quesnel, Dawson Creek and Smithers.
Video conferencing equipment has now been installed in 15 sites across northern B.C. to allow patients to converse with specialists without traveling so far. And a team made up of an oncology dietitian, pharmacist, social worker, and education co-ordinator have been established to provide support through video conferencing.
Oncology dietitian Lindsay Van Der Meer said there has been plenty of positive feedback.
"We hear time and time again from our patients as well as staff how valuable they feel this service is to them and how convenient it is that patients do not have to travel away from home to access it," Van Der Meer said.
Closer to home, there have been extensive renovations at UNHBC for an in-patient oncology unit, expanded pathology, laboratory and diagnostic imaging services and additional support and office space.
Northern B.C. has become a "magnet for attracting research dollars," Bond added.
"We're seeing talented clinicians, scientists and lab techs from around the world work on cancer research right here in northern British Columbia," Bond said.
Northern Health chair Charles Jago said the cancer centre in Prince George is part of a larger network across northern B.C.
"When we cut that ribbon [on the new centre] I'll be thinking of Smithers, Queen Charlotte Islands and the other places where we have centres that are part of a network," Jago said. "We'll be celebrating a network, not one centre on its own."
One in three B.C. residents will develop some form of cancer over their lifetime but according to the Canadian Cancer Society, British Columbians have the lowest mortality rate among Canadians for all types of cancers.
"Almost 50 per cent of cancers are preventable," Bond said. "We know that doing a few very simple things that all of us talk about and find harder to do would actually reduce your chance of getting a chronic disease, including cancer by up to 80 per cent.
"And one of the reasons we're facing such challenges in the health-care system is because of the prevention side of this. Here's what you have to do: quit smoking, get physically active, eat healthy and control your weight."
A second linear accelerator and a computed tomography (CT) simulator are scheduled to arrive at the cancer centre this week. The centre is on schedule to open by the end of this year.
Likewise, the Kordyban Lodge next door is on schedule for completion in November.
