Info Link: Awards, announcements and coming events in cancer control

Cure4Kidsfor Kids is a new website from the St. Jude Cancer Education for Children Program that helps school children, their parents and their teachers to understand the basic science and treatment of cancer through age-appropriate content.

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The Canadian Virtual Hospice website was recognized as “exceptional” by the Health & Science Communications Association (HeSCA). HeSCA’s Media Festival is internationally known as the pre-eminent media awards program in health sciences, where the "best of the best" entries in web, print, film, video, still media and interactive media compete for honours.

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The World Cancer Declaration is a tool to help bring the growing cancer crisis to the attention of government leaders and health policy-makers in order to significantly reduce the global cancer burden by 2020. It represents a consensus between government officials, public health experts and cancer advocates from around the world who are committed to eliminating cancer as a life-threatening disease for future generations.

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The Lung Association of Newfoundland and Labrador presented Eastern Health with a President’s Vote of Thanks Award. Eastern Health was recognized for its contribution to lung health by promoting better breathing for all patients, clients, residents, visitors and staff at its sites and offices.

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Cancer Care Nova Scotia announced the recipients of its annual Excellence Awards in leadership, innovation, and patient care. They are: Dr. Dorothy Barnard, pediatric hematologist/oncologist and professor (retired); the Capital Health Head and Neck Cancer Site Team; and Dr. Robert Rutledge, radiation oncologist, Capital Health Cancer Care Program. The awards acknowledge the work and commitment of people who have helped the organization to further cancer prevention, treatment, and care for Nova Scotia cancer patients and their families.

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The Pan-Canadian Cancer Research Strategy has been developed by the Canadian Cancer Research Alliance to help coordinate cancer research investment across Canada, focused on 24 key action items across a number of areas including prevention and treatment. It will enable the country’s cancer research funders to make faster progress on shared priorities and maximize the impact of cancer research funding in Canada—in turn allowing more Canadians to benefit from new discoveries.

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Wait times for cancer radiation treatment continued their decline during 2009, despite a more than 10 per cent increase in the number of patients receiving treatment, according to the 2010 Cancer System Quality Index report, issued recently.

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Improvements to the Prince Edward Island Breast Screening Program will reduce wait times significantly over the coming months. Beginning this month, the program will be adding up to 150 additional appointments per week between both sites. This will reduce the current wait time of about 12 months to three to four months by the fall. Women with symptoms or in urgent situations, as referred by a physician, will continue to have a wait time of less than two weeks.

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The type and quality of care and services to ensure a cancer patient dies with dignity in the setting of his or her choice depends on where the person lives in Canada, according to a special report about end-of-life care in Canadian Cancer Statistics 2010, released by the Canadian Cancer Society.

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The availability of radiation therapy in Lethbridge is part of a province-wide strategy to open cancer care treatment centres across Alberta, meaning hundreds of Albertans will now have access to care closer to home. Construction of a second radiation treatment facility will soon begin in Red Deer, and a third new location will be located in Grande Prairie.

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Scientists in British Columbia have developed a unique experimental drug, known as EPI-00, that shrinks prostate cancer tumours in the lab. The breakthrough came from the research groups of Dr. Marianne Sadar, Senior Scientist, BC Cancer Agency, an agency of the Provincial Health Services Authority, and Dr. Raymond Andersen, Professor, University of British Columbia. EPI-001 targets a protein believed to be responsible for the fatal progression of advanced stage prostate cancer.

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