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Lynn Kachuik (left) and Dr. Martin Chasen led an oncology and palliative-care team that worked across the Champlain LHIN for three years to achieve accreditation by the European Society for Medical Oncology.

TOH’s Cancer Program has been accredited by the European Society for Medical Oncology (ESMO) – a prestigious designation that acknowledges our state-of-the-art facilities and integrated oncology and palliative-care programs that meet the highest criteria in the world.

The three-year designation allows TOH to be a referral centre, and have palliative-care residents and fellows from Europe come here to work, supported by ESMO grants, said Dr. Martin Chasen, who led a team that has worked diligently for three years to achieve the recognition.

“It’s an incredible achievement. It’s really been an ambition of mine,” he said. “It means we’re an integrated cancer-care centre that combines oncology and palliative-care services along the spectrum, allowing us to care for patients and their families through the continuum and trajectory of the disease.”

TOHCC is just the third cancer program in Canada to achieve this accreditation, along with the Segal Cancer Centre at the Jewish General Hospital in Montreal and the London Regional Cancer Program. North America does not have a body comparable to ESMO, which uses a rigorous, peer-reviewed process to determine which centres get accredited.

“The literature supports that palliative care should be integrated into oncology patient care across the entire trajectory of care,” said Lynn Kachuik, the Advanced Practice Nurse who leads the Supportive and Palliative Care team and worked closely with Dr. Chasen to bring this to fruition. “This award recognizes that here at TOH we actually live that reality, and it’s one more step on our journey to becoming one of the top 10 percent of hospitals in North America in quality and patient safety.”

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