Cancer Care Close To Home campaign reaches and surpasses fundraising target

A night to celebrate for the North Bay Regional Health Centre Foundation as the organization announced it has reached its $6 million fundraising target for the Cancer Care, Close to Home campaign.

President and CEO of the foundation, Tammy Morison says the funds $6.3 million in total will pay for equipment upgrades and two new CT scanners and she says all this equipment can make a big difference for patients who are diagnosed with cancer.

“We want to make sure that we can provide the earliest possible diagnosis and all of the screening programs that are so important because they identify cancer early. And that’s a big key in outcome,” she says.

Hospital President and CEO Paul Heinrich says these equipment upgrades thanks to the campaign are so important.

“In our diagnostic imaging and our labs and it allows us to have the latest, greatest technology to diagnose and subsequently treat people with cancer,” Heinrich says.

Morison says more than 1,200 people in the district are diagnosed every year with cancer and that doesn’t include those who are undergoing chemotherapy or those who are being treated for a previous episode of cancer.

Cancer survivor Kim Kanmacher on the importance on the importance of receiving cancer care close to home.

“From the onset of my diagnosis I was able to meet with the surgeon the very same day, having surgery and then undergoing chemotherapy. I was able to do it all locally and that was a key factor in fighting this battle,” she says.

The foundation received support from 122 donors including corporations, businesses, service organizations and individuals.