Northern B.C. residents will benefit from new research that is focused on enhancing supportive care and access to services for cancer survivors across the region.
The BC Cancer Agency is partnering with Northern Health and the University of Northern British Columbia (UNBC) in a two-year study funded by the Public Health Agency of Canada.
“This is another important step in supporting Northern families and ensuring they receive care closer to home,” Prince George-Valemount MLA, Shirley Bond said.
The research project is divided into two phases. The first phase (year one) will assess unmet care needs of Northern survivors through interviews with health care professionals and focus groups with survivors to be held in Dawson Creek, Smithers, Terrace, and Vanderhoof. Two First Nations communities, Takla Landing and Tsay Keh village, will also be visited.
Phase Two (year two) will pilot test a survivorship care plan and determine the most appropriate ways to best provide survivors in rural and remote locations both medical and practical support after active treatment is complete.
“As the number of cancer survivors in the North increases, due to advances in screening and treatment, their care needs after treatment will be an important part of the cancer service continuum,” Dr. Amanda Ward, research scientist in cancer rehabilitation at the BC Cancer Agency, said.
“The survivorship care plan will address the distinctive needs of Northern survivors, including follow-up strategies for monitoring the potential side effects of cancer and its treatment, and provision of information about supportive care resources and services in the North.”
“This project is an excellent example of what is possible from the type of partnerships that are developing between UNBC, Northern Health and provincial healthcare organizations,“ Associate Vice President, Research (Health), UNBC Dr. Malcolm Ogborn added.
“The research office at UNBC has been actively engaged in facilitating this and other such collaborations under the umbrella of the historic MOU signed with Northern Health which includes jointly facilitating high quality health research in Northern BC.”
In 2009, approximately 1,100 patients received treatment through 10 community cancer clinics located across the North, located in Dawson Creek, Fort St. John, Kitimat, Prince George, Prince Rupert, Queen Charlotte, Quesnel, Smithers, Terrace and Vanderhoof. As of 2011, an estimated 10,500 cancer survivors are living in Northern B.C.
“Due to geography, health services can be much harder to access in our region,” Prince George-Mackenzie MLA Pat Bell said.
“Specialized research made-in-the-North is crucial to uncovering unique ways to enhance cancer programs and other health care that our residents need.”
“The needs of patients and survivors in more remote regions such as Northern B.C. are often quite different than those living in more urban areas, which typically offer greater access to services,” regional director for the Northern Cancer Control Strategy Dr. Ronald Chapman said.
“Through this study, researchers will be working closely with local cancer care professionals to develop a service delivery model that not only meets their unique community needs, but which also has the potential to be used by other rural communities in Canada.”
The Public Health Agency of Canada (PHAC) is funding the study through a $213,054 grant.
Principal Investigators for the project are Dr. Amanda Ward with the Cancer Rehabilitation and Sociobehaviourial Research Centre at the BC Cancer Agency, and Dr. Robert Olson, assistant professor with the Northern Medical Program and the first radiation oncologist hired for the new BC Cancer Agency Centre for the North.
Co-investigators from the North include Pam Tobin, clinical project lead with the Northern Cancer Control Strategy and Aboriginal Health consultant for the project; and Dr. Nadine Caron, oncology surgeon, Academic Physician in Surgery with the Northern Medical Program, and Associate Faculty with Johns Hopkins University Bloomberg School of Public Health. Other co-investigators include Dr. Fuchsia Howard and Dr. Arminee Kazanjian, both from the Faculty of Medicine, University of British Columbia (Vancouver, BC); and Dr. Christopher Longo, Center for Health Economics and Policy Analysis, McMaster University (Hamilton, ON).
The research project is currently looking for interested cancer survivors living in Dawson Creek, Smithers, Terrace, Vanderhoof, Takla Landing or Tsay Keh village.
If you are a cancer survivor who would like to participate, please contact Chelan Zirul, Project Coordinator, by phone at 250-565-5821 or via email at chelan.zirul@northernhealth.ca
