News Room
For immediate release - June 1, 2007
Innovative Cancer Assessment Clinic Opens at The Ottawa Hospital
(OTTAWA, ONTARIO) – Ontario Minister of
Health George Smitherman joined Ottawa Hospital officials and leadership
donors today to officially open the new Ages
Cancer Assessment Clinic, the first facility of its kind in
Canada. The Clinic is located on the 7th floor in the northeast
wing of the Hospital’s General Campus.
The goal of the Clinic is to help reduce diagnostic wait times
for lung, prostate and colorectal cancer, from an average of four
months down to just four weeks. It will provide “one-stop”
care for patients and their families by bringing diagnosis, treatment
and support services under one roof.
“The Ages Cancer Assessment Clinic offers new hope for thousands
of cancer patients in our region,” said Dr. Jack Kitts, President
and CEO of The Ottawa Hospital. “This model is seen as a pillar
of Ontario’s Ministry of Health strategy to increase access
and reduce wait times for cancer services.”
In attendance at the opening were several donors whose generosity
was recognized in the naming of the Clinic and its diagnostic units,
including the Ages family, sanofi-aventis, MDS Nordion and the Canadian
Cancer Society.
“Our family has supported this institution for generations
and we feel it is crucial to support cancer care at The Ottawa Hospital,”
said Murray Ages, for whose family the Clinic is named.
“We are proud to support the Lung Cancer Diagnostic Unit
at The Ottawa Hospital's new clinic,” said Jérôme
Silvestre, President of sanofi-aventis Canada. “For sanofi
aventis, this is the continuation of a long legacy of commitment,
begun in the 1950s with our first steps in oncology research, to
improving the lives of people with cancer. We believe that this
unit will lead to better diagnosis and care for lung cancer patients
in the Ottawa region.”
“We are pleased to be able to contribute to the advancement
of health care in the area of prostate cancer. This new diagnostic
unit will be a major step forward in both treating and combating
the disease,” said Steve West, President of MDS Nordion. The
company’s contribution went towards the MDS Nordion Prostate
Cancer Diagnostic Unit.
The Clinic will be recognized as a leader in clinical, academic
and research activities for the prevention, investigation and coordination
of cancer treatment within each of the respective specialties. Each
unit will follow the highly successful continuous care model used
at The Ottawa Hospital’s Women’s Breast Health Centre,
in which a designated nurse accompanies and supports their patient
through all phases of their assessment in the Clinic.
Services will include support and counseling to address the psychosocial
needs of patients and their families and care in a culturally sensitive
context. They will provide a learning environment for patients,
families, students and staff from this and other organizations and
the community at large and will conduct research into the assessment,
prevention and treatment of lung, prostate and colon cancer.
The Ottawa Hospital is a multi-campus, academic health sciences
centre, serving 1.5 million residents of Ottawa and Eastern Ontario,
both in English and French. It provides care for more patients than
any other hospital in Canada, and is one of the largest acute care
hospitals in the country. It boasts specialty centres in cancer,
heart, kidney and vision care, as well as rehabilitation services.
For more information, visit www.ottawahospital.on.ca
The Ottawa Hospital Foundation’s mission is to inspire and
enable people to support the highest quality health care at The
Ottawa Hospital and lifesaving research at the Ottawa Hospital Research Institute. For more information, visit www.ohfoundation.ca
For more information, please contact:
Carl Martin
Vice-President, Communications & Marketing
The Ottawa Hospital Foundation
Tel.: 613-798-5555, ext. 17840
Cell: 613-762-3432
camartin@ottawahospital.on.ca
Allison Neill
Director, Media Relations & Community Engagement
The Ottawa Hospital
Tel.: 613-737-8899, ext. 70271
aneill@ottawahospital.on.ca
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