A campaign to bring in specialized cancer care infrastructure to the East Kootenay Regional Hospital in Cranbrook remains ongoing, even as dialogue between local and provincial officials continues to be ambiguous.
Plans are underway to build a new building at EKRH that will include expanded renal and oncology departments. However, given that it is a completely new build, local officials with the Kootenay East Regional Hospital District are pressing for the inclusion of radiation therapy infrastructure, which requires a specialized vault or bunker.
An update on the business plan for the new building was conspicuously absent during the last hospital board meeting on Feb. 9, 2024.
David Wilks, the mayor of Sparwood and the chair of the hospital board, said he hasn’t heard the province explicitly reject the potential inclusion of radiation therapy into that new build.
“We do need, if we are going to move forward with radiation services, we do need two … vaults, I’ll call them bunkers,” Wilks said. “You need two, you can’t just have one. So my question to the ministry and to IHA as well, is if we were to utilize the $15 million that was provided by Teck for radiation, could we build two vaults, and then in the future, when radiation comes to EKRH, at least we have the vault? …
“If they can’t bring in radiation right away, at least they have two additional rooms they can use for something.”
The $15 million from Teck referenced by Wilks is one of a number of commitments made by the company as part of a plan to sell off its Elk Valley coal assets to Glencore.
In 2022-23, there were 250 patients from the East Kootenay, and 254 patients from the Kootenay-Boundary region who accessed radiation therapy services, according to the BC Cancer Agency. Collectively, that came out to 6,289 radiation treatments, averaging 12.5 appointments per patient.
Of those 504 Kootenay-based patients, 94 per cent accessed radiation therapy services in Kelowna.
From April 1, 2022 to March 31, 2023 the Kelowna centre provided radiation therapy to 2,779 patients through 32,197 appointments.
The push for radiation therapy at EKRH in Cranbrook is being driven by a number of factors, most notably that a new building can incorporate the radiation bunkers into those building plans.
Currently, travel is a challenge, as Kelowna — a seven-hour drive away from Cranbrook — is the closest place that provides radiation therapy services, since Alberta health care facilities aren’t providing radiation therapy to B.C. patients in border regions, such as the Elk Valley or Columbia Valley.
While Hope Air recently expanded services out to Cranbrook, there are no direct flights from YXC to Kelowna, as current services to the Okanagan require a connector in Calgary or Vancouver.
In a recent interview, Kootenay East MLA Tom Shypitka says he’s continuing to advocate for radiation therapy at EKRH, but doesn’t have his hopes up, based on conversations he’s had with the province and Health Minister Adrian Dix.
“I have never heard Adrian Dix ever say there was a possibility of getting radiation treatment in Cranbrook, ever,” said Shypitka.
In the past, Dix has been non-committal on developing radiation therapy services at EKRH in Cranbrook when asked directly about the proposition.
During the media availability last fall during the announcement of the F.W. Green Home expansion, Dix said the government would look at proposals for building out capacity for radiation therapy, but added that the province is focusing on four new BC Cancer centres in Kamloops, Nanaimo, Burnaby and the new Surrey hospital.