The Canadian Cancer Society office in Red Deer will be the third to close in Alberta in 2016 and will be followed by two more closures elsewhere next year.
The Red Deer and district office is scheduled to close Dec. 16. Medicine Hat and Lethbridge offices have already closed, along with one in Yellowknife. All were operated by the society’s Alberta/NTW Division.
Dan Holinda, executive director of the division, said community offices are closing across the country, but Alberta was first out of the gate to address a 90 per cent drop in office visits in recent years as patients opted to contact the society online or by phone.
“We want the community to fully understand this is the way to improve efficiency and this is the way to give people more access by taking those dollars and putting more into programming,” Holinda said on Tuesday.
“We never would have gone in this direction if the high traffic was still happening in the physical spaces. But they’re not.”
In recent weeks, Red Deer clients were alerted to the upcoming closure.
He said the $90,000 to $100,000 to be saved annually by closing the Red Deer office will be used to expand the Volunteer Driver Program that has seen an increase in demand.
The program provides patients rides to and from treatment in Red Deer, but it’s more than that because volunteers are trained and help patients increase their coping skills and reduce stress, he said.
“Sometimes you don’t want to burden your family with how you’re really feeling. But telling a volunteer who’s trained in this, it’s much better.”
Holinda said Canadian Cancer Society wants to prepare for the future.
“We know that there’s going to be a large increase in cancer cases in this country in the next 12 years. That’s predominately due to an aging boomer population. Canada-wide cancer cases will increase by 42 per cent. Yet in Alberta, that number will rise to over 70 per cent because we have an older population.”
For more information on the Volunteer Driver Program in Red Deer call toll-free 1-855-477-8998. The Wig Lending Program has already been relocated to Academy of Professional Hair Design, at 4929-49th St. For Cancer Information Service call toll-free 1-888-939-3333. For CancerConnection telephone peer-support program call toll-free 1-888-939-333, or online at cancerconnection.ca.
szielinski@www.reddeeradvocate.com