Image Credit: Cancer Won't Wait

By Victor Kaisar

Cancer Won't Wait

‘Successful’ Cancer Won’t Wait advocacy campaign in Kamloops officially ended

Dec 22, 2024 | 3:00 PM

KAMLOOPS — The proponents behind the Cancer Won’t Wait advocacy campaign in Kamloops say their efforts were a success.

Launched in January, the campaign was created to call on the B.C. government to finally deliver on its promise to build the Kamloops Cancer Centre, which is expected to open in 2028.

“Three weeks after the campaign launched, then Minister of Health Adrian Dix visited Kamloops to announce the approved business plan for the new Kamloops Cancer Centre,” TNRD External Relations and Advocacy Advisor, Corbin Kelley, said during a Hospital Board Meeting this month.

“Of course now its a matter it going out to RFP and hopefully getting shovels in the ground very soon. We want to make sure that we’re keeping it on the radar for government.”

The Thompson-Regional Hospital District (TRHD) awarded a $75,000 contract for the Cancer Won’t Wait campaign to consulting firm Santis Health last November.

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“There were 59 news articles written throughout the length of the campaign, which reached over three million British Columbians,” Kelley said.

“It worked to engage thousands of community members as well as nearly 150 TRHD residents who signed up to be on the mailing list. There were a number of patient stories that were collected to share the importance of a cancer centre at Royal Inland Hospital”

Kelley said all of the branding and the website that was created as part of the campaign will remain property of the TRHD.

“We closed off the campaign at the Kamloops Ribfest and I think it was a great way to close it out for residents to engage with members of the hospital district so they could share the importance of the cancer centre for residents,” Kelley said.

While construction on the Cancer Centre is expected to get underway next summer, the TRHD is hoping to meet with new health minister, Josie Osborne, to share concerns about how the facility will be operated and how it will serve people in the Kamloops area.

As it stands, the plan is for the radiation department to be located in the new five-storey facility that will rise on the Westlands site at Royal Inland Hospital, while the chemotherapy department and the pharmacy will remain in the existing hospital building, albeit in a new location.

The hospital board is in favour of both departments being located under one roof, though that idea was shot down by former Health Minister Adrian Dix in September.

Dix said the current plan is the “most efficient and cost-effective way” to ensure the cancer centre is built as quickly as possible, suggesting any change in the design could push the completion date to as late as 2032.

“I will be sending a letter to Minster Osborne to discuss these very real concerns,” TRHD Board Chair Mike O’Reilly said. “It’s not something new. They’ve been brought up by professionals in the past.”

“Having a new health minister in place with a fresh set of eyes and a new lens looking at the TRHD and who we serve as frankly, [we’re] the only tertiary hospital in British Columbia without a full-fledged cancer centre.”

You can find Kelley’s final report about the Cancer Won’t Wait campaign here.