Tag / Calgary Cancer Centre

by Jacqueline Chartier

Cancer Communities Face the Challenges of 2020

Sometimes I find it easy to despair given current world events, including the ongoing global pandemic. This year has been especially stressful for cancer patients undergoing treatment, it has even been difficult for those of us who are in remission. There’s tremendous anxiety around the world as we witness the strain on cancer centres, major hospitals and just about every health care system. I like to remind myself of the resiliency being displayed by cancer communities as they carry on with hope and the determination to make it through this global crisis. I’m especially proud of the cancer organizations here in Canada. and in Calgary, the city where I live. 

Building During COVID-19

Despite the pandemic there is a much needed new cancer centre rising in Calgary. On my many visits to the current Tom Baker Centre, I was alarmed by the obviously overcrowded quarters. When it opened its doors in the 1980s, the Tom Baker Cancer Centre was spacious and featured state-of-the-art design. Flash forward thirty or forty years and the aging centre is crowded and serving a volume of patients that is well beyond the capacity that it was built for. 

After my first couple of appointments, I found it impossible not to notice how filled to capacity the Tom Baker Centre is. Like most patients, I was subjected to the overflowing parking lot, the busy chemotherapy beds and the often packed or standing room only waiting areas. 

Finally, in the fall of 2017 ground was officially broken for the new Calgary Cancer Centre. The facility is scheduled to open in 2023, it will have double the capacity to treat patients and feature ultramodern technology. I don’t know when or if my cancer will return, but I’ve been following the construction of the Calgary Cancer Centre—I’ve been watching throughout the pandemic with anticipation and hope for the future.

I captured this photograph from the Calgary Cancer Centre’s public webcam on the evening of May 26, 2020. I was awestruck by this beautiful image of the sun setting on the massive structure. 

The Walk Must Go On

Meanwhile, I’ve registered for Ovarian Cancer Canada’s largest annual fundraising event, the Ovarian Cancer Canada Walk of Hope. This year it’s become the  Virtual  Edition and will take place on Sunday, September 13. The Walk will certainly look different this year, but the community is focused on achieving our goal  and raising much needed funds to help women live fuller, better, longer lives. 

The pandemic does not change the simple fact that ovarian cancer research is significantly underfunded and that more has to be done to develop better treatments. Scientific progress in the field has been agonizingly slow, more than half of women who are diagnosed with ovarian cancer still die within five years. Like many who have battled the disease, I dream that perhaps one day soon there will be a test that can detect ovarian cancer in its early stages. The majority of women are currently diagnosed after the cancer has spread beyond their reproductive system. In the meantime, funds raised for research in the area of immunotherapy might give renewed hope to some of us—especially the thousands who are already living with ovarian cancer or facing a recurrence.

by Jacqueline Chartier

Keep Your Eyes on the Prize

Now only thing I did was wrong
Staying in the wilderness too long
Keep your eyes on the prize, hold on

The only thing we did was right
Was the day we started to fight
Keep your eyes on the prize, hold on

Popular American Civil Rights Anthem

When the provincial government unveiled the design for the new Calgary Cancer Centre last month, it was arguably the most significant moment for southern Alberta’s cancer community in a generation. The new centre will reportedly have twice as much space available for clinical trials and for patient treatment as the aging Tom Baker Centre now has. Construction of the facility at the Foothills Medical Centre, which is already Alberta’s largest hospital complex, will start later this year.

PCL Construction Management Inc. was awarded a $1.1 billion design-build contract for the cancer centre. Stantec in conjunction with DIALOG, will ultimately be responsible for the architectural and interior design of the new cancer centre, as well as structural and electrical engineering. Stantec will also provide civil and transportation engineering expertise.

newcalgary-cancercentre

​The new facility will be located at the northeast corner of the Foothills campus. It will span more than one million square feet. The design includes a 1,650-stall underground parking garage and a 984-linear foot elevated walkway connecting it with other parts of the Foothills campus.

Services at the new cancer centre will include:

  • outpatient cancer clinics
  • more than 100 patient exam rooms
  • 160 inpatient unit beds
  • more than 100 chemotherapy chairs
  • clinical and operational support services
  • double the space for clinical trials
  • research laboratories
  • 12 radiation vaults
  • double the capacity to treat patients with the best technology

“What this building allows us to do is really integrate care across the cancer continuum and integrate cancer research and education within the cancer care delivery model,” said Dr. Sunil Verma, the medical lead for the new facility.

Verma said that with one in three Albertans expected to be diagnosed with cancer at some point in their lives and a five per cent growth rate each year, the existing Tom Baker Cancer Centre will soon be stretched beyond its capacity.

calgary-cancercentre
Premier Rachel Notley (left), Associate Minister of Health Brandy Payne, (centre) and cancer survivor Susan Cardinal examine a 3D model of the future Calgary Cancer Centre that will soon be under construction.

Personally, I’ll miss the iconic Tom Baker Centre, but I look forward to the opening of a desperately needed new building. Like the majority of patients undergoing treatment at the Baker Centre I have mixed feelings regarding my experience. I’m definitely impressed by the top-notch care I’ve received from the dedicated staff and volunteers. However, I’m alarmed by the all too obviously crowded quarters. On my visits I find it impossible not to notice how filled to capacity the building is—I’ve been subjected to the overflowing parking lot, the busy chemotherapy beds and the standing room only waiting areas.

The Tom Baker Cancer Centre has been serving men and women diagnosed with cancer for approximately a generation now; it opened its doors over 30 years ago in the early 1980s. At the time, Albertan’s marveled at the spacious and innovative new facility. There was incredible pride in the centre by those involved in its creation. The building had been meticulously designed to provide cancer care for Calgary’s population of 600,000 and the rest of southern Alberta. What is more, the new Baker Centre had cutting-edge technology, a first-rate young staff and space, an abundance of space.

I can imagine what it was like for those involved, because the sense of joy and anticipation among patients and their loved ones is once again palpable. It’s a sweet victory, we’ve waited over a decade and withstood the disappointment of several broken promises to build a new Calgary cancer centre. I can’t be certain what my future will bring or what role the new cancer will play in my life. But with construction scheduled to begin in just a few months, and completion planned by 2023, I definitely feel as though I have my eyes on the prize.