As cancer rates continue to increase regionally, so too does the need for faster and more reliable diagnoses and treatment plans.
That’s why the Peterborough Regional Health Centre (PRHC) Foundation has made it a priority to invest in the future of cancer care by bringing digital pathology to the regional hospital, with the help of donors.
An area of focus for the Foundation’s $60 million Campaign for PRHC, the state-of-the-art technology will produce efficient and more accurate diagnoses, reduce turnaround time, and empower world-class healthcare close to home.
VIDEO: Donor-funded digital pathology will be a game-changer for cancer care at PRHC
“Every second counts when patients’ and their families’ lives are on hold, waiting for answers and the call that has the potential to change everything,” says PRHC Foundation president and CEO Lesley Heighway. “Digital pathology will make that experience a little bit better by giving doctors the accurate information they need to diagnose, communicate with anxious patients, and make treatment decisions — faster than ever before.”
Currently, the regional hospital’s pathology laboratory manually processes all tissue samples from PRHC and four partner hospitals. A pathologist uses a microscope to assess the samples and render a pathology report to pass on to the medical oncologist, who will determine the patient’s treatment plans.
With a $2.5 million investment in digital pathology, high-resolution scanners will digitalize the glass slides with precise imaging. Using emerging tools, pathologists will be able to process tissue samples more efficiently, analyze them in greater detail, and provide faster results.
VIDEO: Cancer doesn’t wait, neither should cancer patients — digital pathology will help
“It will make turnaround time from biopsy to diagnosis faster because the pathology report will be done faster,” says PRHC pathologist and medical director of laboratory medicine Dr. Katie O’Reilly. “We’ll be able to do some of the things here that now we currently have to send to Toronto to have done.”
When the samples do need to be reviewed by a specialist outside of Peterborough, the cutting-edge technology will allow the slides to be sent digitally, rather than by courier as is the current process. This will reduce costs, the potential for errors, and the time needed to make a diagnosis when every second is critical.
With PRHC having 23,000 cancer care visits last year alone, Dr. O’Reilly notes it is critical to upgrade the lab as soon as possible to keep up with the technology and the need for pathology reports.
“The field is moving really quickly,” she says. “We are constantly doing more with less resources and this is a way to help us keep up with demand.”
With improved technology and top health care professionals working behind the scenes, PRHC medical oncologist Dr. Neera Jeyabalan says introducing digital pathology will help patients navigating the uncertainty and helplessness that comes with a cancer diagnosis.
“Waiting for a diagnosis is really one of the difficulties of the cancer journey, and not knowing what you’re facing and what sort of treatments you’re eligible for,” she says. “When they get to meet their team and they know what the path forward looks like, it does offer comfort knowing that they are now proactively doing something to have it managed.”
This was the experience for PRHC patient Diana Freeman, a mother of two young girls who was diagnosed with breast cancer in 2024 at 38 years old. Though she later underwent a double mastectomy and months of intensive chemotherapy and radiation, it was the time before she received the prognosis and knew her path forward when she lost hope.
“How are you supposed to care for your kids and your family and yourself when you don’t know what your life is going to be like?” she asks.
Freeman says having “something to hold on to” upon learning of her prognosis and treatment plan helped her find her strength to face the fight against her cancer. Today, she is a PRHC Foundation volunteer hoping for a future where PRHC cancer patients will get their results even faster through digital pathology.
VIDEO: Quicker lab results mean more time — and hope — for cancer patients like Diana
Like many community members, prior to becoming a patient at PRHC, Freeman was unaware that the government doesn’t fund hospital equipment or technology. According to Dr. Jeyabalan, donor support is why the most generous communities have the best hospitals.
“The donors are the pillars of the hospital,” she says. “Without their support, we wouldn’t be able to offer our cancer program and we wouldn’t be able to call ourselves a centre of excellence.”
Digital pathology is just one of the current priority areas for the $60 million Campaign for PRHC which will help ensure the hospital continues to offer world-class care close to home.
“The choice is ours and it’s up to us — you, me, our friends, family, and neighbours. If we don’t fund these essential tools, they simply won’t be there when we or our loved ones need them,” says Heighway.
“When donors give in support of something like digital pathology, it’s an act of shared belief in what we all deserve. It’s a donation that will truly reimagine healthcare — making it possible for the Foundation to provide those funds to the hospital and for PRHC to invest in state-of-the-art, life-changing or lifesaving technology.”
To learn more about fundraising for cancer care at PRHC and to make a donation, visit the PRHC Foundation website at prhcfoundation.ca or call 705-876-5000.
This branded editorial was created in partnership with the Peterborough Regional Health Centre Foundation. If your organization or business is interested in a branded editorial, contact us.
