The importance of having high-quality cancer care close-by is not lost on Tolland resident, Alan Lean.
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When his late wife Kaye was diagnosed with small cell lung cancer four and a half years ago, she was able to receive treatment close to home at the Riverina Cancer Care Centre, without having to travel hours to Sydney.
"Being able to have that done locally and professionally ... made it just so much easier," Mr Lean said. "The alternative of course would be to travel, and that's a very expensive exercise as well as a very inconvenient exercise, particularly when they're not well."
This week marks twenty years since the Riverina Cancer Care Centre began providing lifesaving treatment to Riverina families like Kaye and Alan Lean.
The battle for the Centre in Wagga was hard-fought. The community campaigned for a dedicated cancer treatment facility throughout the 1990s, eventually voting unanimously to raise the money themselves. They raised a staggering $4.3 million in under two years and the Centre was finally opened on March 2, 2002.
Cancer treatments may have changed since then, but the Centre's commitment to affordable, state-of-the-art care without wait lists has remained, according to chief operating officer Damien Williams.
"We've been very true to the community to ensure that no patient waits for their treatment," he said. "It's still something that is driven by our staffing group today."
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The Centre has treated 17,500 patients since March 2022 and now has more than 1,200 new patients access radiation therapy and medical oncology every year.
Mr Williams said the Centre's services have evolved to offer patients access to clinical trials which would normally require extended travel to Sydney or Melbourne.
"Historically, regional patients have always struggled to access clinical trials," he said. "We've made access a lot more streamlined through the establishment of what we call the Cancer Care Foundation."
The Centre shows no signs of slowing down over its next twenty years. In the short-term, they are opening a radiation oncology facility in Griffith, and will spend about $7m on new equipment for the Wagga hub next year.
Mr Williams said they will continue to recruit more specialist doctors and oncologists to fill growing demand and expand the clinical trials on offer.
The Centre currently cares for 61 clinical trial patients, with the number rapidly growing.
"We want to have a complete suite of clinical trials that patients from our area have access to," he said. "That's going to be a big thing for us."
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