Cancer Center opens in Dangriga
For many Belizeans diagnosed with cancer, there is good news to report tonight and that’s because there is a development in the fight against cancer here at home. According to statistics cancer is responsible for more than twelve percent of deaths every year.
Marleni Cuellar, Reporting
Cancer has been in the top five causes of death and reasons for hospitalization in Belize for many years. Many people believe that to be diagnosed with cancer is a death sentence and with the lack of accessible health care for cancer patients in Belize; it may be not be far from the truth.
Two Belizeans now living and working in the United States have been planning over the past four years to make a significant contribution in alleviating the situation for cancer patients in Belize.
Dellone Pascascio, Nursing Director, BCC Dangriga
“A vision we had. We grew up here. I spent a lot of time sitting here on the rocks by that riverside kind of wondering about the future and what I could give back if I ever got out of here. Essentially we did; both Ellsworth and I did.”
Dr. Ellsworth Grant, Haematologist/Oncologist
“I just believe as Belizeans, we need to, we take a lot from the country but we don’t give enough back. And this is just my small part in trying to give some back.”
Dr. Ellsworth Grant and his cousin Dellone Pascascio were born and raised in Belize. They migrated as teens to California in 1968. Their dream was realized today with the opening of The Belize Cancer Center: Belize’s first treatment facility for cancer patients.
Dellone Pascascio, Nursing Director, BCC Dangriga
“This is not about a private venture. It really is about living with cancer and either surviving it or if you cannot then pass into the next life with some dignity and respect.”
Dr. Ellsworth Grant is the medical director of the center. He is a haematologist and adult oncologist practicing in Los Angeles. He has been seeing Belizean patients for the past couple of years. The cost of the treatment and the amount of time of separation between the patient and their family became the impetus for the opening of the center. And as Belizeans would traditionally say, with the help of the Gumagarugu waata, he came back home to Dangriga and converted his family home into the center.
The most important step in getting the center organized was having trained personnel. That was accomplished earlier this year with the training of Nurse Carolyn Obi. Nurse Obi will be the clinical manager for the center and is a qualified chemotherapy nurse. As for Dr. Grant, his commitment extends beyond the opening of the center.
Dr. Ellsworth Grant
“I will return home monthly and Carolyn will be the one taking care of day to day activities at the center and the internet is a great thing so we’ll be able to keep in touch with the patient doing something quite modern tele-medicine and see people in real time and answer questions. The only difference being my physical presence won’t be here.”
This service will reduce the costs for many cancer patients strapped for cash. A rough estimate of one round of cancer treatment in Guatemala could run the patient close to five thousand dollars. With the establishment of the Belize Cancer Center, that cost is cut by almost ninety percent. It’s all part of the initial dream by Pascascio and grant to provide a fully free service to cancer patients.
For patients like Ignatius Gracia, getting treatment at the center makes his life a lot easier. Ignatius was diagnosed with lung cancer in March of this year. After spending a year of trying to figure out what was wrong with him. He spent eighty-one days in the hospital in Los Angeles receiving chemotherapy.
Ignatius Garcia, Lung Cancer Patient
“When I left here I was already dead you could say, even on the plane they didn’t want me to fly. And I managed to get in a hospital where he was and I start getting chemo and improved. When I left California I was like a hundred and nineteen pounds now I’m at one-forty-three point eight.”
It’s results like these that the center seeks to provide and as Pascasio and representatives of the ministry of health stresses the community place a role as well.
Dellone Pascascio
“Today really is our launching point; today is the day that when we say to the community and to this nation that we have put our money where our mouth is now we need you to step up to the plate. For those patients that you know that need the care and can use the center as a resource for treatment or counseling, send them to us – just send them to us. And we will deal with the rest of it.”
Dr. Peter Allen, C.E.O. Ministry of Health
“With regards to the continued purchasing of services and the continued financial stability the NHI is one option but also the ministry and our other partners; the cancer society, the cancer network, and the general community will be playing a part in this.”
But for now the establishment of the center is the first step. The fight against the disease is continuous.
