Hospitals in the Northwest are getting funding for new equipment or projects for their cancer care programs.
The Thunder Bay Regional Health Sciences Foundation announced the grants this week for hospitals in Red Lake, Sioux Lookout, Fort Frances, and Marathon.
The North of Superior Healthcare Group will get nearly $33,000 for new colonoscopy equipment, which CEO Adam Brown said will go towards increasing the longevity of the program by replacing ageing equipment.
Brown said they have six or seven scopes, which visiting surgeons from Thunder Bay use at a monthly clinic at the Wilson Memorial General Hospital in Marathon. He said the scopes are used for cancer detection in the gastro intestinal system, but they have a limited lifespan and need replacing.
It’s all part of the system for cancer care, he said, which starts with primary care clinics and family doctors who send patients for testing including colonoscopies and endoscopies.
Brown said if there is a diagnosis of cancer, “both our hospitals in Marathon and Terrace Bay partner with Thunder Bay Regional Cancer [Care] program to provide chemotherapy services locally in our communities in our hospitals.”
“The Thunder Bay Regional Health Sciences Foundation has always been really supportive of our regional programs, in particular anything to do with cancer detection and treatment,” he said.
“Truth be told, the foundation is excellent. They truly remember their regional role.”
The Sioux Lookout Meno Ya Win Health Centre is getting $36,814 for camera equipment and software that will improve efficiency by providing high-quality images and video of tumour biopsies to determine if cancer is present. This improves on the current practice of doing the consult using FaceTime on an iPad.
Riverside Health Care in Fort Frances is getting just over $40,500 for equipment to replace three ageing chemotherapy infusion pumps and an ultrasound machine that helps with catheter insertion.
The Red Lake Margaret Cochenour Memorial Hospital is getting $3,000 to renovate the room where patients get their chemotherapy infusion.
"Our hospitals collaborate to provide better care to our patients. This is another example of working together to provide the best care possible for the people of Northwestern Ontario,” Rhonda Crocker-Ellacott, president and CEO of the Thunder Bay Regional Health Sciences Centre, said in a news release.
