Regional Cancer Centre at Southlake

Cancer Care by the Numbers

We’ve all been touched by cancer. While our stories and those of our mothers, brothers, daughters, and friends are intensely personal, the facts behind them are what make cancer such a community-minded disease. Almost one out of every two Canadians – 29,444 every week – will receive a cancer diagnosis in his or her lifetime1. What role does Southlake Regional Health Centre play in their treatment? What are the impacts on York Region’s growing population? Why is the need for a York Region Cancer Centre especially urgent? 

The Need for a Regional Cancer Centre
The Regional Cancer Centre at Southlake is a response to an urgent community need2:

• Between 2001 and 2007, the number of new cancer cases in York Region will rise by 32% to 3,300. By 2014, as many as 4,500 new cases will be diagnosed each year, almost double the provincial average increase.3
• Between 2001 and 2007, the number of annual cancer-related deaths in York Region will rise by 24% to 1,200 in 2007.4
• The single most important factor driving the increase in the number of new cancer cases and deaths is the growth in York Region’s older population. 
• Every day for up to six weeks, 200 people from York Region endure the long and stressful commute, as much as a two-hour drive each way, for life-saving radiation therapy only available at Toronto hospitals.

York Region’s Growing Risk
The Regional Municipality of York, a confederation of nine municipalities bordering Simcoe County and Peel Region in the west and Durham Region in the east, is:

• home to an estimated population of 927,487.5
• one of the fastest growing regions in the country with an anticipated future growth of 43,000 per year, double the provincial average.6
• experiencing growth of the 50+ population at a rate of 30% (compared to 19% Ontario-wide) or more than 50,000 residents between 2001 and 2007.7

Southlake’s Shockingly Excellent Cancer Care

In 2005–2006, Southlake Regional Health Centre managed:

• 464,348 outpatient visits for procedures. 
• 222,337 diagnostic exams, including mammograms, CT Scans, and MRIs.
• 6,389 surgeries, including treatment for the four major cancer types – colorectal, breast, prostate, and lung.
• 86 thoracic surgeries for treatment of, among other respiratory diseases, lung and esophagus cancer – more than the other three area community hospitals (Humber, North York, and York Central) combined.
• 8,507 chemotherapy treatments.
• 654 Cancer surgeries.

Cancer Incidence8

• On average, 29,444 Canadians will be diagnosed with cancer every week.
• 38% of women will develop cancer during their lifetimes (based on current incidence).
• 44% of men will develop cancer during their lifetimes (based on current incidence).
• 43% of new cancer cases and 60% of cancer deaths will occur among those who are at least 70 years old.

Ontario Data9

• 57,200 new cases of cancer will be diagnosed in 2006.
• 25,900 people will die of cancer during 2006.
• 7,600 people will be diagnosed with lung cancer in 2006 (the most frequently diagnosed cancer and the leading cause of cancer deaths; 6,600 will die).
• Colorectal cancer is the 2nd highest cause of cancer deaths in Ontario, and 3,100 people will die of colorectal cancer in 2006.
• 8,400 men will be diagnosed with prostate cancer.

1 Canadian Cancer Society, 2006
2 Cancer Care Ontario, 2006
3,4,6,7 Cancer Care Ontario, 2005
5 Estimated at April 30, 2006. Source: York Region Planning Department based on Statistics Canada data and CMHC Housing Completion data, 2006.
8,9 Canadian Cancer Society, 2006

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