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Sam Bruno Committee: 'It is a day that we have been long waiting for'

PET scanner proponents applaud North East LHIN board's decision to support funding
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A local group that has fought since 2010 to get a PET scanner for Health Sciences North applauds the North East Local Health Integration Network's (LHIN) board decision Thursday to lend its support to a $4-million plan for a suite to host the diagnostic machine at Health Sciences North. File photo.

A local group that has fought since 2010 to get a PET scanner for Health Sciences North applauds the North East Local Health Integration Network's (LHIN) board decision Thursday to lend its support to a $4-million plan for a suite to host the diagnostic machine at Health Sciences North.

“It is a day that we have been long waiting for,” said Brenda Tessaro, a member of the Sam Bruno PET Scanner Committee.

Sudbury's Sam Bruno died from colorectal cancer in 2010, still fighting for Sudbury to get a PET scanner, an advanced medical diagnostic device used in oncology, cardiology and neurology to help develop more precise treatment plans for patients.

Since 2010, the Same Bruno PET Scanner Committee has raised $2.2 million to bring a PET scanner to Sudbury.

While the Ministry of Health and Long-Term Care has already said it would provide the hospital $1.6 million in operation funding for the permananent PET scanner, the community needs to raise funds to purchase the piece of equipment, which would cost between $3.5 million and $4 million.

Thursday's board decision from the North East LHIN makes a stronger case for the province to also pay for the reinforced space at the hospital that would host a PET scanner.

The North East LHIN estimates Sudbury could save an average of $228,000 in yearly travel costs as estimated by the Northern Health Travel Grant Program if the city had a PET scanner.

But Tessaro said she believes the savings could be much greater.

“I feel personally that once it's in operation the savings to the Northern Health Travel Grant will far exceed that on an annual basis,” she said.

Tessaro said many cancer patients in Sudbury and the surrounding area are too weak to travel to Toronto for a PET scan, so they aren't even counted as users of the Northern Health Travel Grant.

Health Sciences North would need around 3,800 square feet of new space to accommodate a PET scanner.


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Jonathan Migneault

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