Three years after being diagnosed with bladder cancer, John Loncke said he now has time to play golf, eat lunch and take his dog out for a walk before his biweekly immunotherapy sessions even begin.
That's because the opening of the new Oncology and Outpatient Care Clinic at Erie Shores HealthCare has cut his drive time in more than half.
"It's literally fifteen to twenty minutes for me to be here, as opposed to the forty-five or fifty minutes it took for me to drive to Windsor," said Loncke.
The opening of the clinic was announced Wednesday by hospital officials in Leamington. It offers advanced cancer treatments like chemotherapy and immunotherapy.
In addition to cancer care, the space also offers outpatient medical services, including blood transfusions, iron infusions and surgical procedures.
These services are provided without requiring patients to stay overnight, offering a more convenient and accessible option for those in need of specialized medical care.
Hospital officials said the addition of a cancer care clinic in Essex County is needed now more than ever.
The goal is not to reduce wait times but to meet the increased demand of about 300 new patients in Windsor-Essex who will be diagnosed with cancer every year, they added.
"Generally speaking, we get somebody in to see an oncologist within two weeks of getting the initial referral, and then another two to four weeks for onset of treatment," said Jonathan Foster, vice president of the Erie St. Clair Regional Cancer Program.
He added, "So it's not so much that it's lowering wait times for us, but it's helping us deal with the increased volumes that we're seeing because we know that we're going to see a spike in cases."
The Leamington clinic is currently open Tuesdays through Fridays, with five patients being treated daily.
"Initial visits are done at the Windsor Regional Cancer Centre and then patients are referred here accordingly," explained Kristin Kennedy, president and CEO of Erie Shores HealthCare, who added the Leamington clinic does not perform "extensive treatments that may have severe adverse reactions."
"So it's stable regimens...We do breast, lung, skin, gastrointestinal and urinary cancers,” she said.
The 81-year-old Loncke meanwhile said he stopped doing his immunotherapy treatments in Windsor ever since the Leamington clinic opened as a pilot project two months ago.
"There's no end in sight. So again, the option to come here from our treatments is a real bonus for me," said Loncke.
According to Erie Shores HealthCare, patients from all parts of Essex County can choose to come to the Leamington hospital for cancer care, including those from Windsor, if it is a collaborative decision between the oncologist and the hospital.
