New pediatric cancer clinic at PRHC cuts travel time for patients, families
Collaboration with Hospital for Sick Children in Toronto
A new oncology clinic for youth officially opened at the city’s hospital Monday.
The Pediatric Oncology Satellite Clinic provides care for children with cancer, in conjunction with their treatment at the Hospital for Sick Children in Toronto.
It’s the latest Pediatric Oncology Group of Ontario (POGO) clinic, making it the eighth in Ontario.
POGO and Sick Kids collaborated with Peterborough Regional Health Centre to bring the clinic to Peterborough.
It’s on the sixth floor of PRHC in the Pediatric Out Patient
(POP) Clinic.
A grand opening ceremony was held at PRHC on Monday. The clinic has been operating for about a year, though, but it’s not fully equipped yet.
The PRHC Foundation is fundraising to purchase all the needed equipment and technology.
Services offered at the clinic include chemotherapy, blood transfusions, follow-up care, medication administration and insuflon care, for example.
Lindsay’s Anthony Serracino, 17, has received care at the satellite clinic since November. He was diagnosed with leukemia in August 2017.
At the grand opening, Antho-
ny’s mom, Theresa Serracino-Inglott, spoke about the impact the clinic has had on her family.
Travelling to Peterborough instead of Toronto has helped alleviate the family’s financial burden. They’ve saved money on gas, eating out and hotel costs.
More importantly, though, Serracino-Inglott said Anthony has benefitted immensely because of the shorter clinic visits.
“Having the accessibility of the POGO clinic gets him back to his friends, who have played a very important part in his recovery,” she said.
It also means his friends can visit him if he’s admitted – and as a teenager, that means a lot.
“It gets your mind off everything and you’re able to just breath, just know that things are kind of OK,” Anthony said.
The staff at the clinic have been great, Anthony said, and it feels good to be able to depend on them.
“They’re like family in a way, like a second family.”
Anthony still travels to Sick Kids every six weeks but is now in maintenance treatment.
He’s back in school, working again, going to the gym and playing hockey.
Stepping on the ice for the first time after a year off was an emotional experience for the Grade 12 student.
“I just got this feeling that I’ve never really had before. Going on the ice kind of made me feel safe – it was just a safe place for me and I hadn’t felt that in a longtime.”