Reaching out to high-risk communities

In an effort to reach out to communities most at risk for oral cancer, the BC Cancer Agency is bringing a new mobile screening program to the streets of Vancouver’s Downtown Eastside (DTES).

The idea for mobile screening clinics came as result of research and meetings with community groups from the area to understand how to make oral cancer screening accessible for those who are most vulnerable.

“One in 10,000 British Columbians is diagnosed with oral cancer annually, but the incidence rate is alarmingly higher for residents of the Downtown Eastside, where one in 150 suffers from oral cancer,” says Dr. Catherine Poh, Outreach Program Leader, BC Cancer Agency’s Oral Cancer Prevention Program (BCOCPP), and Assistant Professor, Dentistry, University of British Columbia. “There is an urgent need to reach out to this community with strategies that will help prevent and identify disease at early stages when it is easier to treat.”

For the full story, please visit: http://www.bccancer.bc.ca/ABCCA/NewsCentre/2008/dtesoralscreening.htm 

Advancing Strategic Direction #2
Establish the knowledge generation and application model within the provincial cancer control platform.

Green Light for Cancer Centre

The Province has formally approved funding for the Northern Cancer Control Strategy, which includes the construction of a new 4,200-square-metre cancer centre in Prince George.

The announcement was made by Prince George MLAs, on behalf of Health Services Minister George Abbott. The MLAs were joined by representatives of Northern Health and Karim Karmali, VP of Management and Operations, BC Cancer Agency.

The cost for the new centre, renovations to Prince George Regional Hospital, radiation and diagnostic equipment and infrastructure expansion for cancer care services throughout the North is an estimated $99.5 million.

For the full story, please visit: http://www.bccancer.bc.ca/ABCCA/NewsCentre/2008/north.htm 

Advancing Strategic Direction #3
Support regional centres, regions, and communities with the implementation of provincial cancer control programs and the integration of knowledge.

When normal stem cells go wrong – finding the link to cancer

New research at the BC Cancer Agency may help find ways to identify and shut down stem cells that act as cancer ‘factories’ to produce breast tumour cells.

Published in the journal Cell Stem Cell, the study by BC Cancer Agency researchers identifies a comprehensive collection of genes that appear in normal breast stem cells.

This breakthrough is a result of a unique collaborative effort involving three BC Cancer Agency labs – the Genome Sciences Centre, the Molecular Oncology and Breast Cancer Program, and the Terry Fox Laboratory.

This is important information, says lead author Dr. Afshin Raouf. By recognizing the genes in a normal breast stem cell and understanding how they work, we can now determine how changes in the function of those genes can create a cancer stem cell.

For the full story, please visit: http://www.bccancer.bc.ca/ABCCA/NewsCentre/2008/stemcell.htm 

Advancing Strategic Direction #2
Establish the knowledge generation and application model within the provincial cancer control platform. 

Screening Mammography Program Celebrates 20th Anniversary

Dr. Linda Warren, Provincial Chief Radiologist for the BC Cancer Agency’s Screening Mammography Program (SMP), remembers July 18, 1988 very well. It was her father’s birthday and it was also the first day that the SMP opened its doors.

Twenty years later, on July 18, 2008, SMP’s first patient, Mrs. Jean Orr, came to the BC Cancer Agency Research building to celebrate SMP’s 20th anniversary with Dr. Warren, and many of the SMP staff and supporters.

There was much to celebrate – the program has provided more than four million screening mammograms and helped to reduce the death rate from breast cancer by 24 percent. 

At the event, the new Minister of Healthy Living and Sport, the Honourable Mary Polak, shared her thoughts about the program and related her personal connection to breast cancer. Her mother died from breast cancer and a close friend is currently in treatment.

Dr. Warren expressed the hope that SMP would eventually go out of business because a cure will be found to this pervasive disease. She said “we don’t know what the future holds, but we do know it is always brighter when there is hope.”

For the full story, please visit:
http://www.bccancer.bc.ca/ABCCA/NewsCentre/2008/smpbcanniversary.htm 

Advancing Strategic Direction #1
Sustain and advance the BC Cancer Agency's system of cancer control.

Accreditation Update

By now, many of our staff are in the midst of completing Accreditation Canada’s (formerly the Canadian Council on Health Services Accreditation) self-assessment questionnaires (SAQs), which are based on national standards and include the patient safety 31 Required Organizational Practices (ROPs).

A Quality Performance Roadmap (QPR) will be generated by Accreditation Canada with green, yellow or red flags for each group completing the SAQs. The roadmap addresses those areas that need further action on the part of the Agency. Staff teams will address those action items throughout the next few months, leading up to the Accreditation visit in June.

During their visit, surveyors will review action plans and their implementation and speak with staff, patients and stakeholders to ensure compliance with the ROPs. Surveyors will also “trace” firsthand key activities, such as following the journey of a patient, or a new employee or equipment purchase.

Accreditation is a process that health care organizations use to evaluate and to improve the quality of their services. Accreditation provides recognition that an organization’s services meet national standards of quality and supports our academic mandate.

Thank you to all Agency staff currently involved in completing the self-assessment questionnaire. We’ll bring you news about action-planning in the next issue of the Link.

Advancing Strategic Direction #1
Sustain and advance the BC Cancer Agency's system of cancer control.

Prostate brachytherapy program celebrates 10th anniversary

The BC Cancer Agency’s provincial Prostate Brachytherapy program was established in July of 1998. Ten years later, close to 2,400 patients have received brachytherapy implants.

Prostate brachytherapy is considered an excellent treatment option for many men, because of low risk of cancer recurrence, few long term complications, convenience and low cost.

“The BC Cancer Agency program is the largest prostate brachytherapy program in Canada,” says Dr. Mira Keyes, program leader. “We have a large database that includes information on all implanted patients, their disease characteristics, toxicities and treatment outcomes, which has been invaluable for generating new knowledge. The program has a large academic and research output and has more than $2 million in peer reviewed grants.”

Making sharps safe

Keeping our staff safe while at work is an important priority for the PHSA and its agencies. That’s why the BC Cancer Agency has been working over the past 18 months to convert to safety engineered devices to reduce the risk of staff being exposed to blood-borne pathogens in the course of doing their jobs.

The conversion is nearly complete for devices like safety syringes, IV/catheters and blood collection needles. By the end of August, the operating room staff, diagnostic imaging, ambulatory care unit, and other scalpel users at the BC Cancer Agency’s Vancouver Centre will have converted to safety scalpels. In-service training is being held from Aug 1-15 and Supply Chain will start supplying operating room trays with safety scalpels Aug 21.

“Conversion to safety devices is one piece of a broader blood and body fluids (BBF) exposure control plan (ECP),” said Tanya Tang, safety advisor and chair of PHSA’s BBF ECP working group. “The working group is currently collaborating with clinical and union representatives to develop policies and procedures to protect our staff from all potential blood and body fluid exposures.”

WorkSafeBC requires that all health care organizations complete the switch to safety engineered medical sharps by Oct. 1, 2008, a target PHSA and its agencies are well on their way to meeting. As well, an authority-wide blood and body fluids exposure control plan has been developed and will be implemented across PHSA agencies to ensure our compliance with the WorkSafeBC regulation.

Staff ready to provide treatment and care

The BC Cancer Agency's Abbotsford Centre will begin patient care in just a few days, and staff are busy looking after last minute details. The new centre will be abuzz with activity on the first day. New patient consultations, as well as treatment visits, at the Abbotsford Centre will begin August 25.

We asked a few of the staff what they were most excited about as August 25th approaches. Here’s a few of their responses:

No more commuting…and it’s new! It’s great to be part of a new phase in healthcare and in Abbotsford. One of my goals five years ago was to work at the new Abbotsford hospital and here I am.
Debby Evoy, pharmacy technician

I feel like I've been given the chance of a lifetime. Opening a new cancer centre is something most people don't experience in their entire career.
Alicia Hiebert, radiation therapist

I walked through the Abbotsford Centre two weeks ago. I love the open spaces and the natural light shining through coloured glass. One of my first thoughts was that the architects really came through with a fantastic design. I've heard and seen so much excitement from the entire community about this new centre. It’s really thrilling for me to be a part of that.
Gregory Huebner, clinical counsellor

The opening of Abbotsford Centre begins a new chapter in my 21 year career at the BC Cancer Agency with a brand new facility, enthusiastic staff and a nice short commute.
Sherry Reid, data analyst coordinator 

As a radiation oncologist it has to be ... the fresh photon smell of new linear accelerators.
Devin Schellenberg, radiation oncologist

For more information about preparations for the Abbotsford Centre, please see the article with Dr. Frances Wong in A Step Closer. In the next issue, we’ll bring you news of the official opening ceremony.

Advancing Strategic Direction #1
Sustain and advance the BC Cancer Agency's system of cancer control.

Making learning easier with LearningHub

Give LearningHub a try today at https://learninghub.phsa.ca Instructions for logging on and contact information for support are available on the homepage. Complete the "Humour in the Workplace" interactive learning module to be entered in a prize draw!
Since LearningHub, PHSA’s Learning Content Management System, went live on July 3, there has been an 80 percent increase in BC Cancer Agency employees using the system! How can LearningHub help you?

LearningHub makes professional development easier by automatically tracking the courses you take in your transcript, sending personalized reminders about mandatory education, and sending confirmations that can be added to your outlook calendar when you register for a course. You can also track e-learning and add external professional development to your transcript, which you can now print for easier reporting.

Do you lead a course? LearningHub also makes course coordination easier for teachers/facilitators. If you enter your courses into LearningHub, participants will be able to register themselves in the course, rather than going through you. You’ll also be able to print off class lists, and send alerts to registered participants about room changes, or materials they will need. To add your course to LearningHub, contact learninghubadmin@phsa.ca  

BC Cancer Foundation annual report outlines BC Cancer Agency highlights for fiscal 2008

Mailed to donors throughout British Columbia in June, the BC Cancer Foundation’s annual report highlights achievements of both the BC Cancer Agency and Foundation over the past year, including:

• Early lung cancer detection research program led by Dr. Stephen Lam, receives $2 million donation from Dr. Don Rix and MDS Inc.
• Campaign for a new hospice in Kelowna is completed
• BC Cancer Agency’s Trev & Joyce Deeley Research Centre celebrates five years
• Tour of Courage with Lance Armstrong raises $1.8 million for blood cancer research program led by Dr. Clay Smith
• Abbotsford campaign wraps up and the Foundation opens a new regional office in the new centre
• Fraser Valley’s renovated chemotherapy suite gets nine chemotherapy chairs and other equipment with a $100,000 donation
• Dr. John Spinelli’s published study of the cancer risks from environmental factors
• Lung cancer studies led by Drs. Stephen and Wan Lam show former smokers have permanent damage to some genes
• Co-author Dr. Stephen Chia’s published study of drugs for metastatic breast cancer

BC Cancer Foundation Expenses
The report also outlined the BC Cancer Foundation’s expenses for last year. They were 13 percent of revenue for fiscal ’08, and have averaged 16 percent over the past five years. It is important that the BC Cancer Foundation be a cost-effective organization, so the Foundation works very hard to keep expenses as low as possible. Please click here for a detailed breakdown of expenses: 2008annualreportpiechart.pdf

Read the entire report online at www.bccancerfoundation.com or get your copy at your closest BC Cancer Foundation office, or contact Michelle Peters at 604-707-5946 mpeters3@bccancer.bc.ca  for a copy. Note: a “mini” version of the report is also available.

Advancing Strategic Direction #4
To ensure we have the resources to achieve maximal organizational effectiveness. 

Norma Freeman’s free as a bird

After 30 years of working in the Finance department, first at the BC Cancer Agency and then with PHSA, Norma Freeman is looking forward to the life of a snowbird. She’ll be spending her summers in Vancouver and her winters in Las Cabos, Mexico.

It’s no wonder that it wasn’t all that difficult to say goodbye to work, however Norma will always have a soft spot for the BC Cancer Agency. It’s where she made many friends. And, it’s also where she received treatment and care after her breast cancer diagnosis more than 20 years ago. “I’ve been cancer free for more than 20 years. My oncologist saved my life, and I’ll forever be grateful to him and the Agency,” says Norma. She’s been an advocate for women getting screening mammograms since her experience. “I always tell my girlfriends and female relatives to go have one.”

Her sunny disposition was what got her the job and it’s what staff will miss now that she’s gone. “Norma was a wonderful colleague, because of even temperament, her willingness to share her knowledge, and her team attitude,” says Michelle Mathieu who worked with Norma for 10 years. “Her open and cheerful disposition – and at the same time a firmness – made her coworkers, whether from within finance, or from other departments, feel they could depend on her for solid advice.”