4 WEDNESDAY, May 8, 2013

The Standard

www.standard.net.au

STATE BUDGET 2013

10 million reasons to

Napthine embraces
community wishes
for treatment base
WARRNAMBOOL
By PETER COLLINS
TEARS of joy flowed
last night over the state
governments $10 million
budget announcement for
construction of a regional
radiotherapy base in
Warrnambool.
Coupled with $5 million
from last years budget, it
means south-west residents
will soon have a local
treatment facility instead
of having to travel hours
to Melbourne, Geelong or
Ballarat.
The funding is a huge
boost, but an equally generous contribution from
the federal government is
now needed to achieve the
ultimate goal of having a
fully-staffed and equipped
integrated cancer care
centre in Warrnambool.
Premier and South West
Coast MP Denis Napthine
struggled to contain his
emotion as he divulged the
news early in an embargoed preview to community
campaigner Vicki Jellie.
They hugged, recognising each others efforts,
forgetting past tensions
when community aspirations seemingly hit a
government brick wall.
Dr Napthine said his
recent elevation to premier did not sway the deal.
This was already in
the budget, he said. My
government has listened.
His voice quivered as
he recalled conversations
with mothers who decided
not to leave their families
to travel long distances for
radiotherapy treatment.
This issue is as important to the community as
the rescue helicopter was,
he said.
I know people who are
alive today because of the
chopper and in 10 years
time Ill know people who
will be alive because a
cancer treatment centre is
here.
This is a major step
forward to ensure local
cancer patients can remain
close to home, family and
their support networks

when they are receiving

this vital treatment, not
alone hundreds of kilometres away in a city hospital
room.
We are all touched by
cancer and live in hope
that this treatment facility
will ensure more people
survive.
Ms Jellie became a
tireless campaigner to
honour the wishes of her
late husband Peter Jellie,
who died of cancer in 2008.
She helped form Peters
Project committee, of
which she is a director,
and is likely to soon devote
her energies full-time into
a renewed fund-raising
campaign to get $5m in local funds for the eventual
construction of a cancer
care centre.
This budget announcement means so much to us
its a fantastic outcome,
she said tearfully.
We were a group of
amateurs who set out to
make something good out
of something sad.
This is an emotional
triumph which we have
worked very hard to
achieve.
The budget commitment
will fund two purpose-built
radiotherapy bunkers with
specialised treatment and
diagnostic equipment,
including a computerised
tomography scanner and
simulator.
Expressions of interest
will be sought for construction, supply and delivery of
the services at a site yet to
be determined.
The former dental service house on Ryot Street,
opposite the Warrnambool
Base Hospital, has
previously been touted in
health circles as a suitable
location.
Dr Napthine said federal
government funding was
vital to achieve the full
goal of having the radiotherapy facility integrated
with a dedicated cancer
care centre, servicing from
Colac to Millicent in South

98

REFRESHMENT
PACKAGE.

INCLUDES A FACIAL
PROCEDURE PEEL AND LED
LIGHT THERAPY.

Australia. Wed now like

$10 million from the feds,
he said.
The Peters Project
committee will have $5
million and the state has
put in $15 million.
Dr Napthine said a review of cancer services in
the south-west confirmed
a clear need across the
south-west and into South
Australia to improve
access to radiotherapy
treatment, which usually
took 15 to 30 minutes a day
for up to six weeks at a
time.
A third of people
diagnosed with cancer in

the south-west are choosing not to have treatment

because of the tyranny of
distance, he said.
Research has shown
the further you live from a
radiotherapy centre your
chance of survival is cut by
30 per cent.
Radiotherapy uses
high-energy radiation
either X-rays, gamma rays,
electron beams or protons
to kill or damage cancer
cells and stop them from
growing and multiplying.
Treatment is localised to
a specific part of the body
and is prescribed by a
specialist.

It can be given externally by a machine aiming

radiation beams at the
cancer spot or internally
with a radiation source
put inside the body.
According to the Cancer
Council of Victoria,
research shows that at
least one in two people
recently diagnosed with
cancer would benefit from
radiotherapy.
Ms Jellie said there
would still be about
15 per cent of cancer
victims who would have to
travel to major centres for
specialised treatment, but
85 per cent of south-west

victims would be able

to use the Warrnambool
facility.
She said the Peters
Project team was preparing for a massive public
campaign to reach the
$5 million local target
towards the proposed
integrated cancer centre.
By contributing to this,
we as a community can
take great pride in being
an integral part of this
much-needed facility and
when it is built we can
stand proudly together
in our achievement, she
said.
pcollins@fairfaxmedia.com.au

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