Survivors say Moncton’s new breast health centre will mean quicker treatment

Above Watch: Survivors are hoping a new Breast Health Centre will speed up Breast Cancer treatments.

MONCTON – The Breast Health Centre officially opened Monday at the Dr. Georges-L.-Dumont University Hospital Centre in Moncton.

The project represents a total investment of $9 million and began in the fall of 2013.

Dieppe breast cancer survivor Kathy Smith hopes the new clinic will provide women with better access to screening and treatment programs.

“I waited for my second test to come back for six weeks and that’s a long time. You are looking at a month and a half of pins and needles and wondering how bad it really is,” she said.

Smith was first diagnosed with breast cancer nine years ago.

“We put off getting married two times before because of the cancer.”

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“This new Breast Health Centre will enable health professionals to offer more collaborative and better co-ordinated care to patients. It is equipped with state-of-the-art technology,” said Health Minister Victor Boudreau at the launch.

The centre will provide screening, diagnosis and treatmeant services for breast cancer patients from across the province. It’s been in operation since early February, and offers a complete range of outpatient services to the entire province, all under one roof, with integrated services adapted to patient needs.

“The centre is really important because we know that early detection and screening and proper treatment saves lives that is what has shown the greatest impact on women’s breast health in the last years,” said Michelle St-Pierre with the Canadian Cancer Society.

St-Pierre says the death rate of women with breast cancer has decreased by 42 per cent since the mid-1980’s. Last year in 2014, 560 women like Kathy were diagnosed with breast cancer in New Brunswick and 110 women lost their fight with the disease.

Smith is grateful that she was able to overcome her disease and hopes the new centre will encourage more women to seek breast cancer screening.

“If you have any suspicion that something is not right, if you are just not feeling right you have to go with your instinct, go to your doctor and get it checked out,” she said.