Statement from UNBC President on Appointment to Co-Chair Cancer Consultation Process
April 14, 2005 for immediate release
The following statement has been prepared by UNBC President
Charles Jago in response to an announcement made by the Government of British
Columbia on April 14, 2005. Click here for the Government news release.
Improved cancer prevention, detection, and treatment are
important issues to northerners. Northern
health care outcomes fall below the standards achieved in other parts of the
province. This is as true for cancer as it
is for other diseases. It is not an
acceptable situation.Although I did not seek the task of conducting a public
consultation process on access to cancer care in the north, I understand the
trust that has been directed to me personally to engage in this task. I am pleased to be sharing the responsibility
with Jeff Burghardt, a man I have known over many years and whom I greatly
respect. It will be important to us both
to engage the community and to understand the desires of northerners as they
face the prospect of growing cancer rates over the coming years.
I also appreciate the trust that has been shown in UNBC to
coordinate and conduct research to inform and to guide the implementation of
clinical services in response to the northern cancer strategy outlined in the
joint NHA, BCAA report entitled Northern
Cancer Control Strategy. It will be important
that through the research to be conducted at UNBC in cooperation with
practitioners in the NHA and the BCCA we learn about the very best practices in
rural cancer treatment that are developing world-wide, come to understand
better patient preferences in our region, and find the best solutions geared to
northern geographic and cultural realities.
I was struck by a passage in the report that reads as
follows:
Population growth, development of other cancer services in
the North, adequate planning for oncology human resource specialists,
improvements in East-West transportation links within the Region, and
developments in clinical technology may combine to improve the feasibility of a
northern [radiotherapy] service in the future.
In particular, the advancements in digital linkages and the
implementation of clinical information systems may enable new models of service
to be feasible.
In undertaking this assigned task, I will seek to ensure
that through the research conducted at UNBC and through the consultation
process with northerners we look to the future and examine all of the
possibilities created by new modes of practice to ensure that northerners have
the best and most comprehensive cancer care possible.
Dr. Charles Jago
President & Vice-Chancellor
Contact:
Rob van Adrichem, Director of Media and Public Relations,
UNBC – 250.960.5622
