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Cancer care part of big plan

Construction of the new Central Alberta Cancer Centre will allow Red Deer to play a bigger role in Alberta’s new 20-year strategy to improve care for cancer patients, says Alberta Health Services.
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Work continues on the Central Alberta Cancer Centre located at the Red Deer Regional Hospital: here workers install panels to the exterior of the building. The centre is expected to be open in October of 2013.

Construction of the new Central Alberta Cancer Centre will allow Red Deer to play a bigger role in Alberta’s new 20-year strategy to improve care for cancer patients, says Alberta Health Services.

“The new Central Alberta Cancer Centre with its new capabilities are really a part of the plan,” said Dr. Paul Grundy, senior vice-president and senior medical director of CancerControl Alberta, on Wednesday.

On Tuesday, the province announced the development of CancerControl Alberta, a new division within Alberta Health Services. It will bring all of Alberta’s cancer facilities and programs under one umbrella.

The province wants to reduce wait times for treatment, generate more seamless care and improve the use of leading-edge research and clinical trials to support patient care.

A new billion-dollar cancer centre in Calgary will serve outpatients, inpatients and cancer research and the Cross Cancer Institute in Edmonton is getting $67 million in upgrades.

Grundy said Red Deer won’t see the “test tube” research, but patients could be recruited for clinical trials and research will be possible into the delivery of care.

“If we develop a better way of doing something, whether we develop that in Edmonton, Calgary or Red Deer, we’re trying to develop better mechanisms so those innovations and improvements get spread across all of our cancer facilities.”

Construction of the $46-million, two-storey cancer centre at Red Deer Regional Hospital Centre started in December 2010 with the grand opening expected in October.

It will triple the size of the centre and expand the current chemotherapy program, in addition to bringing radiation therapy to the city.

“That means it will allow a significant number of cancer patients in Central Alberta to have their entire consultation and treatment in Red Deer,” Grundy said.

“When you talk to rural cancer patients about what was most difficult about their cancer treatment, they will often tell you it’s the disruption to their lives and their families’ lives by having to come all the way into Edmonton or Calgary for so much of their treatment.

Two radiation oncologists and a medical physicist have been hired for Red Deer and recruitment of other staff is going well, he said.

“We may actually start to see patients in September. But for the official opening, we’re targeting October.”

szielinski@www.reddeeradvocate.com