Hyperbaric chamber ‘vital’ future treatment for cancer survivor

REGINA – Another Saskatchewan resident is pushing to keep an oxygen therapy chamber in the province.

Donna Hodel is a cancer survivor whose radiation treatments damaged her salivary glands. Hyperbaric oxygen therapy would be a “last resort” to preserve her jaw bone and teeth after extensive dental work.

Funding for the chamber, currently located at Moose Jaw Union Hospital, will cease by the end of 2015. Five Hills Health Region has said there isn’t enough space for it in the new Moose Jaw hospital, which will be 25,000 square feet smaller than the facility it’s replacing.

“There are a lot of people that can’t afford a trip like that.”

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Patients seeking oxygen therapy could have to travel to Edmonton or Toronto instead. The government covers the cost of the treatment, but not the travel.

“Could I get to Edmonton on my own? Yeah, I could. But there are a lot of people in this province that can’t afford a trip like that,” Hodel said.

When the Opposition NDP raised the issue in question period Thursday, answers from the government hinted the chamber could still move to the new hospital opening this summer – a change from recent weeks.

“They’re just making this up on the back of a napkin,” said NDP leader Cam Broten. “They have no plan and that is absolutely offensive to Saskatchewan patients who have benefitted from (the chamber) and could use it in the future.”

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Health Minister Dustin Duncan didn’t have a timeline for a decision. Government officials are weighing the cost of moving the chamber to another health care facility against paying for treatments in other provinces, Duncan said.

“If we were to just to out-of-province for all hyperbaric service, what cost would that be compared to trying to find a new space for it?”

Retired doctor David Amies, who was one of the only Saskatchewan physicians trained in hyperbarics, recently called it a “no brainer” to move the chamber to another facility.

Since the chamber began treating patients in 1997, 258 patients have undergone a total of 4,480 treatments, which averages out to roughly 300 per year.