The B.C. Cancer Agency officially opened the $10-million Alex and Jo Campbell Patient and Family Support Centre today.
The centre is a new 10,000-square-foot space atop the B.C. Cancer Agency’s building at 2410 Lee Ave. in Victoria.
It will provide cancer patients and their families with comprehensive supportive care, which includes emotional and psychological support resources before, during and after treatment. At the same time, experts will conduct cutting-edge research focused on the psychosocial and clinical aspects of cancer treatment.
Fundraising for the project began with the 2009 Inspire the World campaign, to which more than 1,000 Vancouver Island residents and businesses contributed.
The new facility includes:
• Alex and Jo Campbell Patient & Family Support Centre: the newly constructed third floor of the B.C. Cancer Agency Vancouver Island Centre is a state-of-the-art space dedicated to enhanced supportive care and research.
• Thrifty Foods Patient Information Library: providing patients and their family members with valuable information resources in a comforting environment.
• BMO Nutrition & Exercise Studio: a wellness room for patients to work with specialists on their nutrition and exercise needs as they evolve throughout the cancer journey.
• Norgaard Foundation Family Counselling Suite: a space where children whose family members are going through cancer treatment receive specialized counselling and information support.
• Clive and Ann Piercy Predictive Cancer Research Suite: a place where innovative research takes place, looking at ways to predict who will get cancer, and how a patient will respond to which particular treatment, and why.
In 2013, more than 5,000 people on Vancouver Island are expected to be diagnosed with cancer. On an average day, health-care professionals at the B.C. Cancer Agency’s Vancouver Island Centre provide care to approximately 350 patients.
editor@vicnews.com