By Don Urquhart, Times Chronicle

The $22 million expanded oncology clinic at the Penticton Regional Hospital will not only alleviate the current capacity crunch but will help cope with the projected 30 per cent rise in cancer rates in the Interior over the next 20 years.

While one in two Canadians can expect to have a brush with cancer over their lifetimes, the Okanagan in particular is expected to see this figure rise because of aging demographics. Osoyoos for instance has the second oldest population in the province after Qualicum Beach on Vancouver Island.

And while the desperately needed upgrading and expansion of the current facility has been in the plans for some time, a lack of government funding has waylaid any progress on the plan.

A considerable decision by the South Okanagan Similkameen Medical Foundation to commit to a $10 million contribution through its “Better Care Better Outcomes” fundraising campaign has proved integral in getting the expansion underway.

The Okanagan-Similkameen Regional Hospital District is contributing $3.2 million to the project with the Ministry of Health through Interior Health kicking in the remainder.

Board Chair of South Okanagan Similkameen (SOS) Medical Foundation Peter Steele and Foundation CEO, Sally Ginter were in Osoyoos recently giving a presentation to the Osoyoos Rotary Club on the campaign.

“We don’t have $10 million right now for it, but we said to Interior Health ‘let’s do it,’ and our Board of Directors said ‘do it, it’s needed’,” Ginter said adding, “we’ll get there.”

The foundation’s fundraising will go towards the hard assets – the construction cost and all the equipment including medical equipment, “right down to the wastepaper basket,” she added.

Ginter expects that the campaign will run for three to four years in order to reach the $10 million.

The remaining $12 million of the total cost includes staffing and recruitment because like most of the province’s health care system, the oncology clinic is short staffed.

Once the expansion and renovations are complete the new facility will offer “a beautiful, safe, aesthetically pleasing, patient-centred workspace.” And with this Ginter says “the ability to attract and retain talent goes way up.”

Located in the old part of the hospital she says the Oncology Clinic “is dark, it’s crowded, it’s completely lacking private spaces, it’s dangerous for some of the staff, and it does not do anything to give anyone in that space a sense of hope.”

“When you are going for your cancer treatment, or you’re taking your loved one for cancer treatment that’s why you go – you’re going for hope.”

The renovation will cover three floors and work is already underway on one empty floor where asbestos removal is taking place.

While parts of the clinic will be open as early as November 2024, the foundation anticipates a three to four-year timeframe for completion.

The SOS Medical Foundation’s oncology campaign began on Sept. 27, 2022 with a $500,000 gift from Essio Truant. The money had been donated prior to his death in March 2022 in memory of his late wife Dianne who died after a brief battle with cancer.

 For more information on the campaign visit sosmedicalfoundation.com