A Kamloops City Councillor is calling for a community approach when it comes to lobbying for the long awaited Cancer Care Centre.

Mike O’Reilly, who is also chair of the Thompson Regional Hospital District (TRHD), made those comments reacting to B.C.’s plan to send as many as 50 cancer patients a week to Bellingham for radiation treatment.

“The City of Kamloops and our residents have been waiting for an announcement for radiation in Kamloops since April 3, 1998, which was the opening date of the Kelowna Cancer Centre,” O’Reilly said on the NL Morning News.

“We’ve been waiting long time and the way I’m putting it with some of my colleagues is its time for a full-court press, if you will.”

O’Reilly says that “full-court press” approach to lobbying may help keep the pressure up on the provincial government.

“That starts to show numbers and volume and how important it is to not just the elected officials but to the community members and how deeply rooted it is and how it touches so many people,” he said.

“I think that’s ultimately the direction we’re going to need to go to get Kamloops announced for the next cancer centre in British Columbia.”

While there is cancer care at Royal Inland Hospital, patients who need radiation treatment are sent to Kelowna. Former Premier John Horgan promised during the 2020 provincial election campaign, that a full cancer care centre would be open within his government’s four-year mandate.

The NDP won that election, with Health Minister Adrian Dix saying numerous times since then that the Kamloops Cancer Care centre is part of the government’s 10-year cancer plan. The government released more details about that $440-million plan in February of this year, though it did not mention Kamloops by name.

As part of a post-budget media blitz, Finance Minister Katrine Conroy told RadioNL that her government’s pledge for a Cancer Care Center in Kamloops is going to be fulfilled.

“Your cancer care center is…it’s currently in the concept planning phase,” Conroy said on March 3.

“So the work is underway, and we’re looking forward to sharing more details about the timelines and the services as that progresses, but you have to go through the concept planning phase.”

Asked for an update on the status of the Kamloops Cancer Centre this month, Dix said he plans to be in Kamloops “soon” to discuss those plans, though details about that visit are not clear at this time.

In January, Interior Health’s Director of Business Operations, Dianne Kostachuk, presented the TRHD with its annual list of funding requests. It included $600,000  towards the drafting a cancer services business plan, with the hospital district set to pay $240,000 of those costs.

That request was rescinded in March as IH told the TRHD the cancer services business plan was not yet approved.

O’Reilly previously told RadioNL that progress on the long-promised Kamloops Cancer Care Centre for Kamloops was among the TRHD’s top priorities for this year. In March, he called for more long-term capital planning as well as funding for the Kamloops clinic.

That same month, TRHD officials asked Interior Health several questions on why construction has yet to begin while also criticizing the transparency around the project.