THE Cancer Centre for Dubbo Hospital campaign on Facebook is "going gangbusters", gaining almost 6000 page likes in three weeks and reaching in excess of 67,600 people.
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The page was set up by Lyn Smith from the Rotary Club of Dubbo West and Frances Peters-Little from the non-for-profit Jimmy Little Foundation following action launched by a Rotary taskforce in 2015.
"The Rotary Club of Dubbo West started seeking government funding for a PET-CT scanner for Dubbo Hospital after medical oncologist Dr Florian Honeyball and specialist physician Dr Colin McClintock addressed one of our meetings," Lyn Smith said.
"We soon realised there was a need for an integrated cancer centre including state-of-the-art scanning facilities, radiotherapy, additional chemotherapy and a range of support services," Lyn Smith told the Daily Liberal.
"The response from the community has been tremendous and both Member for Parkes Mark Coulton and Member for Dubbo Troy Grant are supportive of what we are trying to achieve.
"Our federal and state elected representatives and the Western NSW Local Health District have been planning extensively and working out projected costs for a cancer centre.
"The critical step now is to support Mr Coulton and Mr Grant as they work to get the money out of their respective governments."
Mrs Smith said "quite a lot" had been achieved through letter writing, meetings and lobbying.
Social media was allowing campaign co-ordinators to "further encourage lively discussion about and active support for a new cancer centre at Dubbo".
"The social media reach has been astounding," Mrs Smith said.
"Supportive comments are coming in from around the state and people holding signs calling for a cancer centre have been sending us individual and group photos.
"It has been wonderful to see people of all ages and walks of life working together for the common goal of gaining government funding for a dedicated cancer centre.
"We are in the process of a paper petition which should be ready to take to the public by the beginning of May."
Mrs Smith said the Rotary Club of Dubbo West was not seeking to start a community fundraising campaign for cancer facilities.
"It is not realistic for a service club to raise the money and anything that we could achieve would only be a drop in the bucket of what would be required for a specialised cancer centre," she said.
"We are seeking state and federal government funding. I must also stress that we are in no way critical of existing staff at the Dubbo Hospital oncology unit.
"The unit does a wonderful job but there is clearly a great and urgent need for improved cancer services.
"The facts are simple and obvious - people in western NSW have poorer health outcomes the further west they live."
Mrs Smith said PET-CT was the best technology to diagnose cancers but the closest facilities were in Sydney.
"This means country people living in the west need to travel long distances away from home for days when they are feeling at their most vulnerable," she said.
"The expense and disruption involved are so great that people sometimes decide not to have the test, resulting in less accurate diagnosis and less effective treatment.
"Statistics show a lower incidence of cancer among Indigenous people than non-Indigenous people, but a higher death rate.
"One explanation for this statistic is that cancers in indigenous people are often detected late, when the cancer has advanced and the chances of successful treatment are poorer. Indigenous people need to be able to access the best technology closer to home.
"Establishing an integrated cancer centre at Dubbo would be a step towards closing the gap in health outcomes between Indigenous and non-Indigenous people much sooner than the current reliance on health education programs which have long-term goals."