Nanaimo hospitalB次元官网网址檚 cancer centre isnB次元官网网址檛 just a concept plan anymore.
B.C. Health Minister Adrian Dix stopped by Nanaimo Regional General Hospital on Tuesday, April 16, to announce that a business plan has been approved for a $289-million cancer centre at NRGH.
It means that the project is ready for tender with construction planned for 2025, and an expected completion by 2028.
B次元官网网址淚t means that by 2028, the 1,400 people who need radiation therapy, the 20,000 treatments that they need, weB次元官网网址檒l be doing them here in Nanaimo and not Victoria,B次元官网网址� Dix said.
He noted that NanaimoB次元官网网址檚 population is growing rapidly and is also aging, and said a cancer centre is a critical step to strengthen health services in the region.
B次元官网网址淭his is good news for Nanaimo, and Qualicum Beach, and Parksville, and Campbell River, and Port Hardy B次元官网网址� it is good for Vancouver Island,B次元官网网址� the minister said.
Mayor Leonard Krog, who has advocated for provincial funding for health care services in the city, called the health minister NanaimoB次元官网网址檚 B次元官网网址淢osesB次元官网网址� for the day.
B次元官网网址淚 donB次元官网网址檛 apologize for being a pain in his posterior or the governmentB次元官网网址檚 posteriorB次元官网网址次元官网网址� the mayor said. B次元官网网址淏ut the commitment shown by the government in the last few years in Nanaimo has been incredibly important to the quality of health care here. It gives hope to people who work at the health-care system here in Nanaimo, and it emphasises Nanaimo is a tertiary hospital.B次元官网网址�
The centre will be three storeys and will be built next to hospitalB次元官网网址檚 ambulatory care building. It will have a PET/CT diagnostic scanner and an oncology ambulatory care unit with 12 exam rooms and four consultation rooms. The lower level will contain four B次元官网网址渓inear accelerator vaultsB次元官网网址� that contain radiation equipment.
The province said the procurement process is underway.
The scope of the project will include a single-storey addition to the ambulatory care building for a new community oncology network clinic and expanded pharmacy. The upgraded clinic will have 16 treatment bays, private consultation rooms, a medication room and support space. According to the release, the clinic will be able to offer oral and intravenous cancer treatment, chemotherapy, immunotherapy, targeted therapy and hormonal therapy, as well as consultation, supportive care and follow-up care.
Construction will include 164 new parking spaces with a two-storey parkade next to the cancer centre as well as additional stalls in a nearby lot.
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Tracy Irwin, chief operating officer with B.C. Cancer, said that the centre will complement services provided in Victoria and eliminate three to six hours of travel time for patients on the central and north Island.
B次元官网网址淗aving this new centre here mean residents of central and north Island will no longer have to stay away from home to access treatment,B次元官网网址� she said. B次元官网网址淚t will help take away the stress of facing road closures and bad weather which often makes it more difficult for people to get treatment.B次元官网网址�
The difficulty with having to travel was made personally clear to Qualicum Beach resident and VIU criminology professor Joanne Falvai who was diagnosed with medulloblastoma in November 2020. Requiring brain surgery, then six weeks of radiation and five months of chemotherapy at the B.C. Cancer clinic in Victoria, she, her husband and her three children were forced to rely on to temporarily re-locate. The campaign raised more than $64,000.
B次元官网网址淚 couldnB次元官网网址檛 tolerate the travel from Qualicum and we did not want to be separated from our boys so we re-located to Victoria for the duration of all of that treatment,B次元官网网址� Falvai said. B次元官网网址淎lthough we were very grateful to be together in our little [bed and breakfast] in Victoria it was really hard being away from our family, our home, all of our people.B次元官网网址�
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