**** HEALTH / WELLNESS Media Release
New Endoscopy Room Open at Dartmouth General Hospital
More Nova Scotians are receiving potentially life-saving cancer screening and treatment with the opening of a new endoscopy room at Dartmouth General Hospital.
It is the third endoscopy room at the hospital and allows about 125 more people each month to have colonoscopies as part of Nova Scotia’s Colon Cancer Prevention Program.
“When a cancer is detected early, patients have more treatment options and a better chance at survival and recovery,” said Michelle Thompson, Minister of Health and Wellness. “The new endoscopy room will allow more patients to get the care they need sooner, which may save their life.”
Through the prevention program, all Nova Scotians aged 50 to 74 receive home screening kits, with the goal of preventing cancer or finding it early, when treatment is most effective. People whose home screening results are abnormal are referred for further investigation via colonoscopy.
The new room was made possible with the support of the Dartmouth General Hospital Foundation, which contributed more than $215,000.
Providing the care Nova Scotians need and deserve is a key solution in Action for Health, the government’s strategic plan to improve healthcare in Nova Scotia.
Quotes:
“The opening of this third suite represents a significant increase in the volume of colon cancer screening colonoscopies done at Dartmouth General Hospital. This translates into saving Nova Scotian lives through the prevention of colon cancer. It is a big deal. It is a major step forward for Nova Scotia and will help our provincial screening program meet important timelines and clinical benchmarks. We at Dartmouth General Hospital are extremely grateful to the DGH Foundation for the equipment funding and thank those who donated.”
– Dr. Chadwick Williams, Endoscopy Site Lead and Internal Medicine Site Lead, Dartmouth General Hospital
“The team at Dartmouth General Hospital is driven by a focus on high quality, patient-centered care. All of us are thrilled to be able to expand this service and reduce the impacts of colorectal cancer, which is the third most common cancer among both men and women in Canada.”
– Eileen MacGibbon, Vice-President, Operations, Central Zone, Nova Scotia Health
“The Dartmouth General Hospital Foundation is thrilled to be able to work with Dartmouth General’s amazing endoscopy team and our incredible GUT (Get Up There) donors who helped fund the equipment for this third endoscopy suite. A big thank you to Mark Gascoigne and the Get up There for Colorectal Cancer event participants. This project is another example of philanthropy and governments working together to advance healthcare in Nova Scotia.”
– Stephen Harding, President and CEO, Dartmouth General Hospital Foundation
Quick Facts:
— a colonoscopy is a procedure where a long, flexible tube (endoscope) is slowly guided into the colon through the rectum, allowing the doctor to examine the colon for any abnormalities
— Nova Scotia has among the highest colorectal cancer rates in Canada; about 800 new cases are diagnosed annually
— Nova Scotians are encouraged to take the home screening test every two years between the ages of 50 and 74
— in 2021, there were almost 4,000 colonoscopies completed as followups on abnormal home screening results; about 1,200 of those were in Nova Scotia Health’s Central Zone
— in 2021, 927 Nova Scotians who had a colonoscopy through the prevention program had precancerous growths found and removed, thereby preventing colon cancer from developing
Additional Resources:
Action for Health: https://novascotia.ca/actionforhealth/
Colon Cancer Prevention Program: https://www.nshealth.ca/service-details/Colon%20Cancer%20Prevention%20Program
