The 10th annual Evening of Pink will be held Saturday at the Prince George Civic Centre.
Funds raised during the event go to the Spirit of the North Healthcare Foundation to purchase much-needed equipment to enhance the care of cancer patients in the north.
Dr. Robert Olson, the first doctor to be hired at the B.C. Cancer Agency's Centre for the North, is the special guest speaker.
"The main focus of my talk is about how things have improved so much for cancer care delivery in northern B.C.," said Olson, who was hired in 2009, years before the Centre for the North opened on Nov. 1, 2012. "I'm going to start off by talking a little bit about who I am and what my journey was to get to northern B.C. and the next part will be about some of the challenges of getting cancer care in northern B.C."
Olson was working in Vancouver when he was hired and would come north at least once a month to Prince George, Terrace, Prince Rupert, Fort St. John, Dawson Creek to do some outreach clinics.
Part of the appeal of coming to work in Prince George for Olson was that he could still do research while seeing patients.
"I enjoy doing research, a big research topic is improving health care delivery, particularly improving it for people who live in rural populations," said Olson.
New to the north is clinical trials that have started, with more and more opening in the future, said Olson.
"Before that, the only way to be part of a clinical trial was to go to Vancouver and return to Vancouver for follow up every six months for five years," said Olson. "That usually stopped people from participating so I think that's probably one of the bigger improvements."
Evening of Pink's 10th annual celebration begins at 5:30 p.m., dinner at 7, with a dance to follow. Tickets are $85 each. To get tickets and for more information about the Evening of Pink, visit www.eveningofpink.com.
