Concrete sign of progress
THE 45,600 Dubbo regional residents, and supporters including media personality Ita Buttrose, who signed a #cancercentrefordubbo petition in 2016 have been celebrating the past few weeks with news the cement has been poured marking the beginning of the bricks and mortar facility.
“People across western NSW will be delighted to see the first concrete sign of progress towards completion of the Western Cancer Centre,” said Rotary Club of Dubbo West member Lyn Smith who was instrumental in gathering signatures for the petition from far and wide. “They have recognised the need for decades – just ask (Dr) Joe Canalese – but we were very fortunate to secure funding for it in 2017.
“Thank you Mark Coulton for extracting an election campaign promise,” she said.
“Over 43,000 people signed a community petition to Parliament to show how strongly they felt the need then. The high demand now for accommodation at Macquarie Homestay shows how many people already travel to Dubbo Hospital for treatment.
“Having this first-class facility here will mean that people from western NSW will be able to come to Dubbo for diagnosis and treatment of cancer, avoiding the need to travel to Sydney,” Mrs Smith said.
Many signatories knew of, or were themselves, cancer patients and the biggest impact seeking treatment has on people living west of Dubbo is being away from home during their ordeal.
“Travel can be the worst thing for cancer patients, causing stress, tiredness, missing home, strange accommodation and the expense of travel and accommodation,” Mrs Smith said.
“Seeing the Western Cancer Centre rise from its foundations will be a monument to the community spirit which campaigned so hard to have it built. Thank you (Dubbo Hospital head oncologist) Florian Honeyball for being the driving force behind it.”
On June 24, Federal Member for Parkes and Minister for Regional Health Mark Coulton and Member for Dubbo Dugald Saunders inspected the $35 million construction.
“With every milestone we reach on this project we are one step closer to providing a better quality of life for cancer sufferers and their families,” Mr Coulton said.
Mr Saunders said the concrete pour has focused on the ‘bunker’ slab for radiation therapy services, which is a first for the Dubbo region.
“The bunker walls will be up to 2.3 metres thick and will be home to the linear accelerator machine that is used to administer radiation treatment to patients,” Mr Saunders said.
When complete, the new centre will include 16 chemotherapy spaces, a bunker for radiation treatment and a PET CT scanner for cancer diagnostics.
The new building will be at least 2887 square metres in size and will link with the Dubbo Base Hospital Redevelopment Stage 4 Clinical Services Building at the first floor.
The project is scheduled for completion in 2021.