Premier opening for radiation unit
By Chris Simon

Premier Dalton McGuinty, back right, toured the new mobile radiation unit at Royal Victoria Hospital in Barrie last week. The unit opened earlier this month, and is Photo by Chris Simon expected to treat 400 patients from throught the region each year. It has already logged 84 visits during the two weeks since it opened.

It didn't take long for Debra Morrison to utilize Royal Victoria Hospital's new cancer treatment centre.

The Snow Valley resident was diagnosed with cancer, and became the first patient treated at the hospital's new mobile radiation unit when it opened April 1. She greatly appreciates the building, which now allows her to stay closer to home when receiving treatment.

Without the unit, Morrison would have been forced to drive to Toronto's Sunnybrook Health Sciences Centre several times per week, a long and time consuming trek, even when healthy.

"I'll never forget the day the doctor told me I had a cancerous tumor, my husband and I just cried and held each other," she said, eyes watering. "Cancer makes time stop, you put everything on hold. When it time to take radiation treatment, you can imagine how happy I was that RVH was getting a (unit). I can't stress how much I dreaded going to Toronto for treatment; it made me very anxious. I didn't want to leave my family, my medical support team or even my own bed. There are comforts in all of these things."

Together with hospital and political dignitaries, Morrison helped officially open the unit Thursday. The $6.1 million radiation unit will operate during the construction of the hospital's Simcoe-Muskoka Regional Cancer Centre, which is expected to open in 2011.

The unit is expected to treat 400 patients per year. Since it opened, the unit has already logged 84 visits, saving patients 24,000 kilometres of travel and, said hospital CEO Janice Skot.

"This is a new day, one worth celebrating," she said. "We (have) dramatically changed the treatment option for cancer patients in this region. Our patients have come from throughout the region, from Collingwood, Port Carling, Colborne and Midland. Having radiation available to them in Barrie has saved them close to 400 hours which they are now able to spend with their family and friends, rather than travelling up the highway."

The unit is the first of its kind in Canada. It includes a linear accelerator machine, and hollow, sand filled walls. Patients will use the facility Mondays to Fridays for about five or six weeks each, with treatments usually lasting about 15 minutes, said Skot.

Once the cancer centre is complete, the unit's $2.3 million radiation treatment machine will be moved into the hospital. Currently, the hospital is also recruiting radiation therapists, nuclear medicine physicists and oncologists for the centre.

Premier Dalton McGuinty, who was on hand for the official opening, says the unit will dramatically reduce the amount of travel for local patients in need of radiation therapy.

"We're celebrating the next step in better treatment closer to home," he said. "Our new unit has begun treating its first patients, so more people will get the critical care they need and will be on their way to recovery sooner. They're doing that closer to their families, with more hope for the future. We must always be moving forward to prevent cancer, improve treatment and ultimately find a cure."