Yorkregion.com - Leisure - Creating buzz over Southlake's cancer centre
Creating buzz over Southlake's cancer centre
“We all know and love someone who has fought cancer and we know that there is, perhaps, no greater battle one can face. You hate to think that anyone would have to face it far from home, away from the people who love and support them. Our goal is to see to it that people in this region won’t have to. We’re well on our way.”
(Dan Carriere, president and CEO, Southlake Regional Health Centre)
No one is more supportive of this statement than Verna Munroe, manager at Southlake’s sterile processing department. In a bold and challenging move on her part, Ms Monroe had her head shaved, November 28, in front of co-workers, family, friends and the media, to demonstrate her deep commitment and unwavering support for Southlake’s cancer centre, where comprehensive cancer care will be available closer to home.
Ms Monroe’s life was turned upside down over several months as she dealt with this terrible disease, which afflicted a very close friend, a brother-in-law, a co-worker and, most recently, her husband. After months of uncertainty about his condition, Mr. Monroe was finally told the dreadful news: he had a rare form of Hodgkin’s disease.
Enduring the travel to Princess Margaret Hospital in Toronto during this stressful period clearly opened Ms Monroe’s eyes to the importance and necessity of having cancer care and treatment closer to home. Her strong commitment to the cancer centre at Southlake stems from the tremendous moral support of her fellow workers at the hospital during the painful ordeal of her husband’s plight.
The ability for cancer patients in York Region and South Simcoe County to receive treatment close to home soon will certainly make a difference in the lives of both patients and their families.
Ms Monroe was elated last month when the Ministry of Health and Long-Term Care gave Southlake approval to move forward with tendering the project.
“I’ve been a huge supporter of a cancer centre at Southlake since day one,” she said. “Cancer has touched so many people in my life and there is such a need for this type of service close to home. It’s a stressful time when someone in your life has cancer and having to make the trip to downtown Toronto imposes an unnecessary burden.”
Since the ministry’s formal approval of the project, the hospital has released the necessary documents to pre-qualified contractors and expects to make a selection in early February, with the goal of starting construction on the centre by March 31.
In the meantime, Southlake’s outstanding cancer care team continues to provide diagnostics, cancer-related surgeries, chemotherapy and support to thousands of cancer patients and their families in a compassionate and caring environment. According to the most recent statistics, Southlake performs more than 650 cancer-related surgeries a year, including more thoracic surgeries for lung and esophageal cancer than all the other hospitals in the province’s Central Local Health Integration Networks (LHIN) and recently became one of just a handful of Canadian hospitals to introduce a new program of minimally-invasive surgery for prostate cancer. During 2005–2006, Southlake provided 8,507 chemotherapy treatments, and this number is estimated to reach 9,000 during 2006–2007.
Expected to open in 2009, Southlake’s cancer centre will serve as the designated cancer treatment centre for the 1.2 million people living in York Region, South Simcoe County and beyond. Comprehensive cancer care and treatment will be available for these residents including diagnostics, surgery, chemotherapy, supportive care programs, clinical trials and, most importantly, radiation therapy – a treatment required for many forms of cancer. Until recently, the closest location for York and South Simcoe cancer patients was in Toronto. Southlake’s Cancer Centre will have the capacity to handle 52,000 new patient visits for this essential therapy, while its annual cancer patient visits will increase six-fold, to about 95,000 a year, by 2012.