Thank you for your support of the CanCertainty Coalition of 35 cancer patient organizations and our focused campaign to have take-home cancer drugs (administered at home) funded on par with intravenous drugs (funded in hospitals). Our campaign has been in the news a great deal over the past year. If you have missed any of the television, radio, or print coverage, please click here.

The purpose of this blog is to provide a very brief update and to ask for your support in one of two ways.

First the updates by province:

Ontario
One year ago (May 8, 2014), Cancer Care Ontario held a full-day meeting entitled “Think Tank: Enhancing the Delivery of Take-Home Cancer Therapies”. This was an excellent meeting with broad consensus that the current reimbursement systems are inequitable, complex, and lead to many issues including delays in treatment, financial burden, and patient safety. The Report from that meeting was issued in December 2014. Since then, our Coalition has been urging the Ministry of Health and Long-Term Care to ACTION this report and put together a steering committee to address the many issues identified. To date, there has been no firm commitment to action.

Can you help? Please consider a letter, phone call, or email to your MPP in Ontario asking your MPP as your elected representative to contact the Health Minister, Dr. Eric Hoskins and urge that action be taken for fairness, equity, and patient safety for all cancer patients in Ontario.

Nova Scotia
In October 2014, as a result of the CanCertainty Coalition’s efforts in Nova Scotia, Health Minister Leo Glavine publicly stated to the CanCertainty Coalition, and to the media, that his government must address the discrepancy in cancer care with respect to take-home cancer medications.  The Minister also committed to reporting back to the coalition on next steps.  Over seven months have elapsed and we have not yet heard from the Minister on a path forward.

Can you help? If you live in Nova Scotia, please consider a letter, phone, call or email to your MLA or directly to Health Minister Glavine requesting action on this issue.

New Brunswick, Newfoundland and Labrador, and Prince Edward Island:
Our Coalition continues to seek patients and healthcare professionals who are willing to take this issue forward with us in each of these provinces. If you can help, please contact us at: [email protected].

Support our Campaign

And lastly, if you do not personally feel comfortable contacting your Provincial Representative but want to support the campaign and our efforts to resolve this issue, please consider making a small donation to our CanCertainty Campaign Fund. Funds allow us to reimburse patients for mileage when speaking to government and/or the media, and to continue our efforts to keep the issue front and centre.

We appreciate everything you can do to help us spread the word. Together, we have made an enormous impact, and together we WILL achieve CanCertainty for All Canadians!

Thank you.
Deb Maskens, Bob Bick Co-Leads,
CanCertainty Coalition