Mrs. Jennifer Gumbs, Mrs. Ethne Richardson and Mr. John Lake
Mr. Henry Hazel, CEO of The Cancer Center for the Eastern Caribbean in Antigua, was recently in Anguilla. He met with members of the Anguilla Community Action Network (ACAN) and other health personnel on Wednesday, February 21st, to discuss the role of The Cancer Center in addressing the needs of cancer stricken patients.
The meeting with Mr. Hazel was coordinated by ACAN’s President, Mr. John C. Lake, who is the local contact person for The Cancer Center of the Eastern Caribbean.
As it regards the cost of cancer treatment, Mr. Hazel noted that there are some patients who can afford to pay for it, but a vast majority of patients from Anguilla and the region, who are referred to the cancer facility, do not carry insurance, neither do they have the wherewithal to pay for their treatment.
“We see the cost of healthcare as a growing problem for our regional governments,” Mr. Hazel stressed. “The cost of cancer treatment is through the ceiling, and Caribbean governments are really grappling to cope with payments for their nationals who are treated at The Center. The governments by themselves can’t carry the load of cancer treatment costs. The Cancer Center is a private establishment which has come to the table for this cause. We are therefore inviting other private establishments to join us at the table so that, together, we can assist in alleviating this huge problem of cancer treatment costs for our people.
“We are inviting charities to come to the table and join us in this regard. Let’s bear the cost of cancer treatment together. Each charity would have its own specific role to play. We also invite industries. For example, there is a company in Switzerland from which we purchased our linear accelerator (which is our radiation treatment equipment) and this company sold us this vital machine at a significantly discounted price. They showed us this considerate gesture after they would have bought into the vision of the establishment of The Cancer Center. In addition, they gave us access to a medical record system that gives us the ability to maintain electronic medical records across the entire OECS region.
“We are also inviting philanthropy to come to the table,” he said. “We have recognized that there are a number of people who can be considered as being “well-off”. They too would be willing to make a contribution to The Cancer Center, but we see that in order for their help to be leveraged there must be a proper structure in place to have such contributions organized so that the benefit of their contributions could spread to a wider pool.
“Most often, a well-to-do person may see a cancer patient in need of help and may desire to contribute. But if the contribution is not well organized and done in a haphazard manner, then it might not be as meaningful and effective. So to bring some structure and organization to such contributions, a broader base of patients can benefit through a well-structured contributions program. In light of all this, The Cancer Center established a foundation into which the giftings from philanthropy can go to take care of individuals who are not in a position to take care of themselves.”
Mr. Hazel hinted that The Cancer Center is working with regional governments to build capacity within their own healthcare facilities to provide certain services on-island so that patience are not really required to travel. “For example,” he said, “There should not be a need for people to travel outside of Anguilla for chemotherapy. It is a low-cost set up, and for the most part the resources are already there within the hospital. There are registered nurses there, who may need just some specialized courses as it relates to up-scaling them for oncology care” (cancer treatment). “The pharmacist is already there,” he said, “but he or she may just require some up-grade training in chemo drugs. So, for the most part, chemotherapy can be done locally once a few minor adjustments are made to the existing facility.”
Mr. Hazel claimed that The Cancer Center assisted St. Kitts in the establishment of their oncology care unit. He said they started out with imported skill sets, bringing in oncology nurses from the Philippines, and they instituted a program to ensure that while those nurses were there, their knowledge was transferred to the local nurses. “They took advantage of the practical training,” he said, “and the academic part of it would have fallen into place when they would have gone to do specialized courses later. So now, St. Kitts does not have to send their patients overseas for chemotherapy, but only for radiation therapy.”
He explained that the radiation therapy part of cancer treatment is different, and that patients requiring radiation treatment must travel to The Cancer Center: “None of our governments in the region have the resources to establish and run such a facility. It cost us US$15 million to establish The Cancer Center. This included the building, the bunker for the radiation machine, and the machine itself. So we are now sharing one center with all OECS countries.”
Mr. Hazel said that a patient would be referred to The Center by a family doctor once the cancer is diagnosed. “With that referral,” he said, “our oncologist would begin the process by making a consultation with the patient. Once there is a confirmation of the disease, then we’ll go through a process of CT Scanning to identify the malignancies.
“If the patient is insured, the insurance company would send a certificate to verify that it is taking care of expenses up to a certain amount on behalf of the patient. We would then draw up a payment plan for the patient to pay the deductible. Once that is done, we proceed without delay with the treatment. For self-paying patients we will require payment up front for their treatment. If that is not possible, we would work out a payment plan, then proceed immediately with treatment. For the government sponsored patients, once we get authorization via a letter from the government’s Ministry of Health to say that they will be sponsoring the treatment cost of the particular patient, upon receipt of that letter, we proceed with treatment immediately.”
Mr. Hazel’s visit preceded that of Dr. Thomas McGowan, Managing Director of The Cancer Center, who was expected to arrive on the island on Thursday, February 22nd, to assess the status of cancer patients at the Princess Alexandra Hospital, and to make plans for any potential treatment at The Center.
The Cancer Center of the Caribbean was opened in Antigua on June 26th 2015, and is a state-of-the-art oncology facility which was the brainchild of former Prime Minister, Baldwin Spencer. This medical center provides cancer treatment services for Anguilla and all OESC countries.
