A Winnipeg woman who receives regular treatments at the cancer clinic says the crush of patients needing to be seen has become a major source of stress for all concerned.
Rose Pallone, a mother of a four-year-old, has been a CancerCare Manitoba patient for 48 years. She was diagnosed with a rare blood disorder when she was just two months old.
She receives treatments every three to four weeks. That involves pre-meds followed by a blood transfusion, all of which takes about five to six hours each time.
Pallone said the nurses are friendly, helpful and caring, but the waiting has become a problem.
“The waiting experience over the last few years four to five years has been very stressful,” she said.
“I used to be able to go prior to my transfusions — a day before — for blood work and then within an hour or two get my results.” The nurse would call and confirm treatment for the following day, which would allow her to plan her schedule, but that doesn’t happen anymore.
“The last several months, I have waited a week for transfusion… a lot of times, my appointments have been backed-up or pushed forward… and that is stressful because I have a family to run and a life to live.”
Waiting for a transfusion has a dramatic impact on her quality of life and ability to be there for her family, she said. “My hemoglobin drops day by day, the energy in my body goes down.”
“We’re just patients that are dealing with treatment itself, and now we have to deal with ‘am I going to get my treatment tomorrow? ‘Is there room for me at this clinic?'”
“Having a disease is stressful in itself, let alone waiting to see if you are going to get treated,” she said.
Pallone spoke on 680 CJOB Tuesday.
As a steady patient for four decades, Pallone has seen things change, from when CancerCare was first built, to now.
“Back in ’98 when they built the building, it was great. You could see the smiles on the nurses, they had room to treat their patients with a smile on their face.”
Now, she said, the space is overcrowded, and while the care is still great, the stress on the patients and nursing staff is obvious.
“There was supposed to be a new building, but with the change in government, it got cancelled. It was supposed to open in 2019.”
Pallone said when she talked to her hemotologist about the continuing challenges in receiving care, he told her to contact her MLA.
Dr. Sri Navaratnam, President and CEO Cancer Care Manitoba, confirmed there are capacity problems at the Cancer Care Manitoba building.
Navaratnam said advancements in cancer treatment have led to a greater number being cured of cancer and needing care.
“It is a problem. We are doing all we can to improve the capacity, to accommodate, to do extra clinics, overtimes in the evenings… of course we are also engaged with officials in government about the capacity issues and everyone is aware. It is a difficult time, but we really want the patients to get the best care possible.”
“We need capacity, there is no doubt about that,” Navaratnam said. “Cancer is growing, one in two Canadians will develop cancer in their lifetime. We are going to see more volume pressures.”
“For us to be sustained as state-of-the-art care for our Manitobans, we need to be innovative, not only in how we do medicine, but also in efficiency.”
As for whether or not care is compromised, patients like Pallone believe it is, and Navaratnam confirmed the perception of waiting is huge on patients.
“As a health care provider, a health care leader, we are committed to Manitobans to get the best cancer care. Yes we are trying our best. Unfortunately the quality of care, by waiting longer, waiting in the clinics, waiting to hear for appointments… do impact their quality of life and how they feel.”
Navaratman said there are ongoing talks with government with a view to dealing with the challenges.
“Where do we go from here? It is not an easy answer that I could tell you we have an equation to, or a formula to fix it,” she said.
Pallone said she thinks more needs to be done, whether it is patients or loved ones contacting their MLAs, or starting a petition to push for the new building that was previously promised.
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