Cancer and Kidney Disease have touched the lives of every single person. We have all either had to personally deal with these awful diseases or have had a family member or friend that has had to fight for their life. Our current care facilities are no longer suitable to serve the amount of people receiving treatment. There are often waitlists to get treatment and people are having to travel outside of our region, long distances over several mountain passes, to receive care. The amount of time spent away from loved ones and the costs involved are enormous. It is a hard enough journey when healthy and excruciating when you are sick!
We are so very lucky to have incredible oncology and renal care teams here at the East Kootenay Regional Hospital. You can see how much they care for their patients and how they are such a huge part of this difficult health care journey. They truly put their entire hearts into the work they do.
That work is never ending. Dr. Keith Lowden, our General Practitioner in Oncology for East Kootenay Oncology who has been part of the team here since 2002, said to me, “Cancer isn’t going away anytime soon. Cancer is a number of diseases and there won’t just be one cure.” This is the same for the renal department. They are seeing their numbers increase year after year for those needing dialysis.
Our current spaces for care were outgrown years ago. One of the most important things staff, patients, and families need during this difficult journey is privacy. We don’t have this right now. Oncology is an open space with only nine chairs and renal is an open space with only four chairs. Through our support of the Oncology and Renal expansion, we will be able to expand the current spaces and add additional equipment and services.
Just because we live in the East Kootenay doesn’t mean we deserve any less then anywhere else in the Province of BC. All of the funds raised towards this campaign will stay within the East Kootenay Region, supporting these very important oncology and renal services.
Together we are bringing better health care to the East Kootenay.