By Cheryl Jahn

Cancer Centre for the North reaches a milestone

Jul 13, 2023 | 3:06 PM

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PRINCE GEORGE – It was a while ago the BC Cancer Agency Centre for the North opened its doors to help patients from across the region. Initially, the plan was to have one of the two radiation bunkers open for use before opening the second. But the demand ws so immediate, the second bunker was fired up within three weeks. The cancer center has grown, like you say, leaps and bounds,” explains Dr. Stacy Miller, Executive Medical Director of the Centre. “Ten years ago, we were we opened one linear accelerator, which is the radiation machine used to deliver radiation, thinking that we would be able to open the second machine several months later. But it was you’re right in the third week that that we opened. We’re now ten years in and looking to now upgrade our linear accelerator. So that’s one of the we’re not we’ve not been here long enough that we’ll be in the process of doing that.” And the gardens where we interviewed Dr. Millar speaks to the unique nature of this cancer centre … many of the plants are native to this region, were chosen by local First Nations and have medicial properties. “This cancer system in the north was built by a team. And what did the team value? The team valued care closer to home. They valued treatment in a beautifully culturally safe space. They valued implementing research and teaching right from the right from the very beginning.” Another thing that is a cut apart from other cancer centres in the province …. of which there are six to date in BC … is the research. Internationally recognized research done by the likes of her cohort, Dr Rob Olson, the firsst oncologist signed on to this centre. His and Dr. Miller’s wish is to build on that … with some help. “Rob’s work in the precision radiotherapy room. We’ve got some really exciting research coming up where Rob’s treatment, just in a nutshell, is how precision radiotherapy is using very high doses of radiation to a very small spot, hoping to inflate that one spot.” But medicine in any form costs A LOT of money. That’s where the BC Cancer Foundation comes in. “Interesting in the radiotherapy radio radiation therapy space, there isn’t as much money available a say in the chemotherapy space as a lot of pharmaceutical companies,” explains Mischa Mueller with the BC Cancer Foundation. “So that’s where the foundation and donors dollars are really key that drive that innovation to, you know, kick start research ideas, build research teams. And that’s what the foundation’s has done to really get the community support over the last ten years as the center has grown into really a research hub for the north.” While the Centre has a full complement of radiation oncologists, researchers, physicists and the like the work done out of the BC Cancer Agency’s Centre for the North We need a full team of people to be able to be here. And how do we really just give people options and show people what exists? In the meantime, the BC Cancer Agency Centre for the North hopes to be a medical and a research leader for the next ten years and beyond.