Adelle Larmour is a journalist at Northern Ontario Business and Sudbury Mining Solutions Journal. Contact her at  untiltheend.larmour@gmail.com  to order a copy of Until the End.

Chapter 48 - The History of the Northeastern Regional Cancer Treatment Centre in Sudbury, Ontario

The idea of building a Northeastern Regional Cancer Treatment Centre gained strength in the early ’80s, when Sudbury citizens began lobbying for this centre of excellence despite the difficult economic conditions. Maureen Lacroix, a proactive personality who has either chaired or sat as an executive member on more than 20 organizations involving housing, job creation, and healthcare, played a lead role in the effort to establish this full-service Centre in the city.

As charge nurse in the emergency unit, and later, assistant director of nursing services at St. Joseph’s Hospital between 1958 and 1965, Lacroix immediately recognized a gap in the system during monthly cancer clinics hosted by the hospital and later by Laurentian Hospital (1974).   

It all took place in two little examining rooms in the emergency department at St. Joe’s. As many as 200 people could have been seen in the course of a day and a half. These were people who waited a long time to see a physician for life-and-death type of news.1

Although Sudbury could provide surgeries and some chemotherapy for cancer patients, advanced chemotherapy, immunotherapy, and radiotherapy2 were only available at Princess Margaret Hospital in Toronto. Lacroix also realized that when the patients returned home, hospital personnel lacked the expertise to administer cancer-specific medicines.

Also, there were those people who would return from Toronto after having their surgeries and chemo- or radiotherapy that had residual chemotherapy drugs to be given. There really weren’t people who knew the protocol about these drugs or how they should be administered. Read the rest of this entry »

Dick DeStefano is the Executive Director of Sudbury Area Mining Supply and Service Association (SAMSSA).

The recent Doyletech Study entitled Northern Ontario Mining Supply and Services – recently released placed a significant amount of emphasis in the value of the sector and its ability to create wealth and employment in Northern Ontario.

I was impressed with results that demonstrate that the 500 plus mining supply companies throughout Northern Ontario generate over $5.6 billion in sales and employees over 23,000 at peak times.

Notwithstanding the value of this enormous financial and employment footprint was the recommendation that an enhanced International Market Entry Strategy needed to be added to the existing Infrastructure within the Companies.

The first-order objective would be to assist sector firms and organizations enter export markets, through a shared-costs public/private partnership program that aided relevant organizations. 

As well, it would support optimum approaches in terms of partnerships, distributors, and product/service profiles. 

The three ways to conduct foreign market entry is by trade, contractual agreement, or direct investment. Read the rest of this entry »