IH unveils $22M Oncology Unit upgrade at Penticton Regional Hospital

Casey Richardson

Penticton Regional Hospital and Interior Health unveiled the newly renovated and expanded community oncology clinic on Thursday.

Fundraising for the upgraded cancer care unit crossed the finish line earlier this spring, with the South Okanagan Similkameen Medical Foundation officially hitting its $10 million goal, after years of help from the community.

Representatives from Interior Health, the provincial government, the Penticton Indian Band and the Okanagan Similkameen Regional Hospital District (OSRHD) were in attendance Thursday.

Chief Greg Gabriel congratulated the hospital and IH for the achievement.

“My hope is that it will bring a lot of comfort and good medicine to those that will come through these doors,” he said.

Vernon-Lumby MLA Harwinder Sandhu said since working as a nurse and as a healthcare advocate for over 25 years, she’s seen both the power of timely and accessible cancer care.

“This expansion is more than just an added space. It is about compassionate, dignified care that brings hope and better outcomes for people.”

The new clinic is three times larger than the previous space, able to serve 8,000 patients annually, with that growing in the future thanks to improved staffing levels. The wing also includes a wig station.

“The difference is immense. The old unit is very congested. It is not able to [allow for] support systems to come in and support people during their treatments,” Diane Shendruk, vice president of IH Clinical Operations, said.

“The unit will decrease wait times for treatment and will actually be able to serve our patient population into the future.”

Shendruk added that staffing levels are ready to go for operations opening on Monday, with more than double the nursing staff and hiring additional support staff in areas such as pharmacy, social work and dietetics and lab services.

“We all know, out of COVID, we’ve had intentional focus on recruitment and retention, and we are seeing much improvement in our staffing levels, and continue to,” she said.

“The work environment really helps support both retention and recruitment, because people really want to work in a state-of-the-art environment.”

This is a big contrast to other healthcare centres in the Interior that have recently come under major scrutiny, including the pediatrics ward at Kelowna General Hospital announcing a six-week closure and nurses in Vernon recently speaking to Castanet about the hospital being a “disaster waiting to happen.”

An unearthed letter from 2022, signed by then mayors of Kelowna, Kamloops, Vernon, Penticton and West Kelowna, voiced concerns about staffing and senior leadership at Interior Health.

Oliver’s Mayor, Martin Johansen, who is also the OSRHD Chair, has seen struggles in his own community with ER closures at the South Okanagan General Hospital.

“These services will play a critical role in helping meet the healthcare needs of our community, and most importantly, allow residents to access the care they need closer to home,” he said.

The $22-million expansion project was cost-shared between the B.C. government, IH, OSRDH and the SOS Medical Foundation.

The expanded Penticton Regional Hospital Community Oncology clinic is a part of B.C.’s 10-Year Cancer Action Plan, which sets out immediate steps to improve cancer prevention, detection and treatment. The plan aims to deliver better care for people facing cancer, while building capacity to meet the growing needs of the future.

Photo: Casey Richardson

Representatives from Interior Health, Government of B.C., and Penticton Indian Band at the PRH Oncology Unit upgrade ribbon cutting on Thursday