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Cancer unit renovations on hold
Plans to expand chemotherapy and I.V. facility to be incorporated into Stanton renovations

Cody Punter
Northern News Services
Published Friday, February 13, 2015

SOMBA K'E/YELLOWKNIFE
Cancer patients being treated at Stanton Territorial Hospital will have to put up with cramped quarters for a little longer than they had hoped for despite massive fundraising efforts to support a new chemotherapy unit over the past few years.

NNSL photo/graphic

N.J. Macpherson School teacher Marilyn Moran, left, and principal Sharon Oldford start shaving the head of assistant principal Randy Caines at N.J. Macpherson School in 2012. The school raised $17,000 for the Stanton Territorial Hospital Foundation to be used toward a new chemotherapy facility. - NNSL file photo

According to the Stanton Territorial Hospital Foundation, plans to build a new chemotherapy/I.V. suite at the hospital are being put on hold until work on renovating the hospital is complete in five or six years.

Building a new chemo unit has been considered a priority for the hospital since 2011, when it reached out to the foundation to help it raise funds for the new facility.

However, when the government announced a new chemotherapy unit will be included in the Stanton renewal plan it was decided that spending money on expanding the unit right now would be redundant.

"If we were to renovate it right away it wouldn't be able to use any of the renovated space in the new hospital so it would only benefit for four to six years," said Rebecca Alty, executive director for the Stanton Territorial Hospital Foundation.

Alty added that the costs for upgrading the suite have ballooned from an estimated $450,000 in 2011 to close to $1 million as of this year.

"With that new information it was decided that we should wait for the chemo suite to be built in the new (hospital)," she said.

To this day the Stanton Territorial Hospital Foundation has raised about $200,000 to go toward supporting the renovation with the bulk of it coming from fundraising events, including a 2011 De Beers Canada diamond raffle which brought in $60,000 and a N.J. Macpherson School fundraiser brought in $17,000 in 2012.

In addition, a dozen private donors have given money to the cause. Alty said the foundation has notified anyone who donated money and presented them with options to redirect their funds.

Some donors asked for their money to be earmarked for upgrades to the new facility once it is built, but the majority asked for the money to be diverted to new initiatives.

"At the end of the day they made the donation to improve the hospital," she said. "Now that this chemo suite is going to be paid for by the government they want the money to be spent somewhere else."

Alty said one donor wanted their money to go toward buying iPads for each of the chairs in the existing chemotherapy suite.

"(It helps) if you don't have your own, or if you don't have a guest, or if you don't want to read a book," she said.

As it stands, chemotherapy and I.V. treatments are administered in the medical daycare unit on the third floor of the hospital where endoscopies and cardiac diagnostics are also performed.

The space has become increasingly cramped over the years as the demand for both medical daycare and cancer treatment have gone up. The workload of the medical daycare unit has increased 88 per cent between 2001 to 2010. During the same timeframe, use of chemotherapy/I.V. therapy has increased 356 per cent.

The Canadian Cancer Society, which raises money for cancer research through events like the Relay For Life, but does not provide financial support to "bricks and mortar" projects, expressed disappointment that the chemotherapy suite was going to be delayed.

"This is a concern for many people in the NWT diagnosed with cancer every year," said Nikki Grobbecker, the society's revenue development co-ordinator in Yellowknife. With an increasingly aging population and cancer rates going up every year, Grobbecker encouraged Stanton to go ahead with building the new suite.

"We obviously applaud the inclusion of the new chemotherapy unit in the plans for the hospital. However, the society encourages Stanton to move forward with its plans of improving the (suite) as soon as possible," she said.

"The unit is at capacity now so Stanton should not delay in making sure that patients have the best possible access to treatment."

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