EDITORIAL – Spending $75,000 for cancer centre ‘advocacy’ is a total waste
(Image: Mel Rothenburger)
An editorial by Mel Rothenburger.
GOVERNMENTS ARE GOOD at wasting money. We know that.
Take, for example, a Thompson Regional Hospital District decision to pay $75,000 to a Toronto consulting firm named Santis Health to work for 10 months on convincing ourselves that building a cancer centre is a good idea.
The contract kicks in next week for what’s called the Cancer Care Advocacy Campaign, the purpose of which is to raise awareness of the need for a cancer treatment centre at Royal Inland Hospital. It will, quote, “grow understanding of facts associated and community and regional benefits of a proposed Kamloops Cancer Centre.”
Strangely, it won’t be aimed directly at the provincial government. The target audience will be residents within the boundaries of the regional hospital district. The hope is that, armed with new awareness that a cancer centre is needed, they’ll write letters to MLAs and Adrian Dix or whatever.
The project will include public relations, newsletters, community engagement, a website, yadda yadda.
So here’s a news flash. We already know a cancer centre is much needed in our region.
Mel Rothenburger is a regular contributor to CFJC Today, publishes the ArmchairMayor.ca opinion website, and is a recipient of the Jack Webster Foundation Lifetime Achievement Award. He has served as mayor of Kamloops, school board chair and TNRD director, and is a retired daily newspaper editor. He can be reached at mrothenburger@armchairmayor.ca.
ArmchairMayor.ca 
Money would be better spent on promoting the Rothenburger centre for the performing arts.
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So let’s review the board’s members rostrum…who can count how many of them are also CoK councilors? I guess the previous TNRD debacle has NOT taught them (nor us, the electorate) a lesson and little in terms of accountability has been learned.
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Thompson Regional Hospital District – what a waste of $75,000.00 that could be spent on patient care or staff care. Not a lot but the Foundation is always asking for donations and one wonders Why donate when the TRHD has $ to burn.
Is this the same group who decides to leave the two blue Phil and Jennie Gaglardi signs lit from dusk to dawn. What a waste of money and electricity when we are trying to reduce consumption. Love the fact that the Gaglardi Family donated a lot of $$$ but even they must see the waste. And some folks that live downtown had to get new window coverings. Please save $$ help sleepers turn those lights of at midnight.
Too late to cancel the $75,000.00 contract but please no more.
Thank you Mel for bringing it to out attention.
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I’m sure this Toronto PR firm has strong ties to the city and no doubt they’ll be making countless trips back and forth from Toronto to gauge our level of knowledge by having a team of consultants talking to the citizenry. The Hospital District board is a TNRD board, so maybe we should be thankful that it’s only costing $75,000 given their past overspending.
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And they didn’t even hire a BC or Kamloops firm :-(
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Open bidding process…just like with the City of Kamloops…
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Great point- the packaged muffins at the hospital this summer were from Ontario. So I did raise that issue with the folks who order the food. No real reply.
PS I took one muffin home ( unopened) it took 6 weeks to start mold.
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Santis Health is centred in the East but opened a Vancouver office last year so I’m guessing that one will handle the local contract.
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Good point. Even if Santis Health has an office in Vancouver, the muffins probably still come from Ontario. We can thank the BC Liberals for closing local food prep and laundry services, yet they’ve neglected to consider the carbon emissions from trucking stuff all over hell’s half acre. Down with carbon tax I say. There has never been an economical scenario presented that carbon tax prevents or reduces emissions.
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