Supportive cancer care often gets described as everything that happens around a person’s treatment. It is the care that helps people survive treatment and live well afterward.
Here in Kamloops, that kind of care has been missing. But not any longer. Kamloops cancer patients and their support network now have access to so many of the supports that they need to navigate their paths with the opening of InspireHealth Supportive Cancer Care at 243 Seymour Street, downtown Kamloops.
About five years ago, a small group of cancer survivors and caregivers decided that the gap between treatment and the supports necessary for both cancer patients and their caregivers was no longer acceptable.
Leslie Brochu, Chair of the Kamloops Cancer Supportive Care Society, traces the work back to personal experience. About ten years ago Brochu’s son was given a devastating cancer diagnosis and four weeks to live. After seeking out an experimental trial in Edmonton, her son survived and is now healthy, following nearly two years of travel and treatment. And though he is surviving and thriving now, Brochu saw how little support existed for families navigating cancer outside of medical treatment.
Cut to a handful of years later, when Brochu was introduced to Anne McCarthy, a 20 year breast cancer survivor who had been given six months to live about four or five years ago. The two women shared stories over a glass of wine and realized that there was an overall lack of supports in general. And true to form, they broke out a napkin and started making notes of how they could help bridge that gap.
That conversation and the scribbled notes on the back of a napkin became the foundation for a locally designed supportive cancer care plan. Together, they took note of where Kamloops patients and their caregivers needed the most support.
“Supportive cancer care is not treatment. It includes nutrition support, counseling, exercise therapy, financial guidance, sleep support, and education for both patients and caregivers,” said Brochu, both during treatment and onwards into survivorship.
The statistics around how cancer affects everyone are staggering. About 50 percent of people will face cancer either personally or through a loved one in their lifetime. Roughly 75 percent of patients continue to experience treatment side effects long after treatment ends.
Supportive cancer care is essential, even though it isn’t a standard offering in one’s treatment.
Brochu and McCarthy talked to organizations like the Royal Inland Hospital Foundation and BC Cancer. The interest and knowledge that more was needed to be done was huge, but implementation was a challenge. Then a connection was made with InspireHealth, a nonprofit organization that has provided supportive cancer care in British Columbia for more than 20 years.
Initially, InspireHealth couldn’t open a physical centre in Kamloops. Instead, they offered virtual care and a traveling two-day program called LIFE. While the local team handled marketing, logistics, and volunteers, the foundation provided partial funding. InspireHealth clinicians traveled to Kamloops every three months to bring the LIFE program to town, in person, and patients and caregivers could gain access to teleconference appointments with a supportive care doctor, dietitian, exercise therapist, and clinical counselors.
The program continued virtually until a breakthrough happened in the form of a $1 million donation by local philanthropist, Anthony Salituro.
Salituro founded and ran the Pink Ribbon Ball for many years, raising funds for breast cancer services. His passion for the cause was spurned on after his aunt Josie was diagnosed with breast cancer about 20 years ago.
With the financial support in place, plus the efforts of the Kamloops Cancer Supportive Care Society and all their partnerships, InspireHealth Supportive Cancer Care Centre opened just before Christmas in downtown Kamloops.
For the first time, patients can now book in-person appointments five days a week while continuing to access all virtual services.
The first in-person LIFE Program at the new centre will run on Jan. 13 and 14. Small groups of 20 to 25 participants will attend from 9:00 am to 3:00 pm, with lunch and snacks provided. Brochu stated that they hope to see it become a monthly affair.
As Brochu says, supportive care improves quality of life, improves outcomes, and reduces strain on emergency rooms and the health system as a whole.
“If you’ve got ongoing support and you can recognize what’s happening, you can seek the right resource at the right time,” she said. “This is not treatment; it is all the supports you need to manage your disease in the best way possible.”