New POGO Satellite Clinic brings care closer to home for children with cancer in Peterborough area
On Monday, September 24, the Pediatric Oncology (POGO) Satellite Clinic at Peterborough Regional Health Centre (PRHC) officially opened its doors to provide care for children with cancer right in their community.
For these patients and their families, care closer to home means a reduction in travel time, costs to receive care elsewhere are avoided, and less loss of income and separation from home and community, all while maintaining confidence that their child is receiving the best quality care.
Mario, Anthony and Theresa
“Having a POGO clinic close to us makes life as a parent a whole lot easier,” says Theresa Serracino-Inglott, whose son Anthony is currently receiving treatment at PRHC after being diagnosed with Acute Lymphoblastic Leukemia in August 2017. “Feeling financially strapped is a common thread among families of children with cancer, and these satellite clinics give some relief to that. I want to say how grateful we are to POGO and to Peterborough Regional Health Centre for taking on this partnership to bring a POGO Satellite Clinic to our community. I can’t help but think of future ‘POGO families’ in our area, and how the availability of this clinic will ease their journey.”
POGO now supports highly coordinated care at eight Satellite Clinics across the province, each linked to one of the five major hospitals with a pediatric cancer program. In addition to the benefits for patients and their families, shifting thousands of visits and hundreds of inpatient days to POGO Satellite Clinics each year provides additional capacity for specialized care in these hospitals’ pediatric cancer programs.