Cancer survivors returning for counselling to the same building where they received treatment sometimes have to pause at the door, says William Litchfield.
The executive director of the B.C. Cancer Foundation on Vancouver Island says it can be difficult for some patients and their families to return to the place where they dealt with so much.
“Having to go back into the main building and sit in the same waiting room where they were waiting for their chemo or radiation can be very difficult and quite difficult for their mental health and well being,” said Litchfield.
That’s why he was thrilled with the announcement of the naming of B.C. Cancer-Victoria Ernie & Yvonne Yakimovich Integrated Care and Research Pavilion on Thursday, a step that brings the new 12,000-square foot centre — where patients and families will receive supportive services — another step closer to opening next spring.
The new centre at 2340 Richmond Rd., the former location of the Canadian National Institute for the Blind, is just across the street from the B.C. Cancer Agency complex on Lee Avenue, adjacent to Royal Jubilee Hospital in Victoria.
Litchfield says the B.C. Cancer building that predominantly provides clinical treatment is “full.”
“We’re trying to move some of the supportive, wrap-around care and services to [the new] building to free up more space for clinical operation and the actual treatment of cancer — the chemotherapy, the radiation — and the actual care team,” he said.
The new centre will provide patients with dedicated rooms for all of the supportive services cancer patients and their families need before, during but mostly after immediate treatment is completed.
There will be six rooms for patients and families to speak with B.C. Cancer counsellors and get mental-health, nutritional and other supports.
There will be a social worker, hereditary cancer teams — including an oncologist — to guide genetic testing, two nursing teams handling patient appointments, pre-screening, and emergency calls, as well clinical trial co-ordinators and staff supporting community oncology networks throughout the Island.
The centre will also house the B.C. Cancer Foundation’s administration, education and group therapy.
A year-long campaign to raise $15 million for the new centre and clinical trials and research is nearing completion, with just $1 million still to be raised to reach the goal.
The Yakimoviches donated $2.5 toward the $11.3-million purchase and renovation of the building.
Murray and Lynda Farmer, who are honorary co-chairs of the fundraising effort, donated another $500,000.
The remaining $3.7 million of the $15-million total covers a $550,000 radiation trial for prostate cancer and a three-year operations budget for the Deeley Reserch Centre, which conducts national immunotherapy trials and research.
To support the campaign, go to bccancerfoundation.com/why-give/beyond-belief/vancouver-island/.
