Radiation treatment will be available in Red Deer in a little over a year.
Work began in December 2010 on the $46-million, two-storey addition to the existing Central Alberta Cancer Centre on the southwest side of Red Deer Regional Hospital Centre.
“Things are moving along quite well and are on target for clinical opening in spring of 2013. Construction is moving along,” said Brenda Hubley, operations lead for the Radiation Therapy Corridor project with Alberta Health Services.
The 4,835-square-metre building will triple the size of the centre and has been designed so that three more floors can be added.
Alberta Infrastructure spokesperson Cam Traynor said construction is proceeding on the interior and exterior.
“The priority is to get things weather tight by the spring,” Traynor said.
“Things are going fairly well with the warm winter we had.”
Currently, only chemotherapy is available in Red Deer, forcing Central Albertans to go to Edmonton or Calgary for radiation therapy.
Hubley said the Radiation Therapy Corridor will also build capacity so that if patients have to wait to access treatment in one centre, they would have the option of going to another site.
The Red Deer centre is part of a provincial strategy to open a corridor of cancer treatment centres across Alberta to improve access.
In addition to existing facilities in Calgary and Edmonton and the new Lethbridge Cancer Centre, a centre will also be built in Grande Prairie.
Plans for Red Deer are for three radiation vaults, only two of which would be used initially. There is space for a fourth vault, if required.
Expansion will provide more treatment and examination rooms, outpatient clinics, a medical day unit and a pharmacy.
Hubley said the cost of operating the centre will be $10 million annually. Staff will at least triple in size with the addition of 30 to 35 new positions.
szielinski@www.reddeeradvocate.com