Daniala Guidoos, a cancer warrior, has decided to speak out about the oncology office at the Shuswap Lake General Hospital.
Through tears, laughs, nervous bellyaches and recovery stories, Guidoos said the reasons for the fire behind her advocacy are endless.
She wrote a letter about the urgent need to renovate and expand the chemotherapy room at the local hospital, so that people fighting cancer, their loved ones, and the nurses and doctors can have room to recover, support, and do their jobs.
“If you walk into an oncology clinic, it’s sometimes sad because we all put on a big brave face, we are all trying to help each other, and yet you can see when it goes quite, you know what the true feelings are,” Guidoos said.
Guidoos was diagnosed with breast cancer in 2023, and has just finished her chemotherapy. Now, she wants to speak out and try to bring awareness to changes that need to be made to healthcare facilities.
She said when she first got diagnosed, she wasn’t thinking about advocacy or awareness, but just trying to survive.
“My biggest reflection is how did this affect my husband dropping me off at chemotherapy when I was in Salmon Arm and it was like a drive-by. I would hug him and walk to the chemo room.”
She said he could not come with her because their was simply no room.
“Walking into the current facility is heartbreaking. There are only three chairs in the waiting room … the chemo treatment space is so small that loved one, who are often a patient’s greatest source of strength, can’t even sit beside them during of of the most frightening and vulnerable experiences of their life.”
She added that she sent her letter to David Williams, MLA for Salmon Arm-Shuswap, but she has yet to receive a response.
“Because of what’s happening there, the waiting rooms behind the treatment doors, it’s not being talked about enough and too often as cancer patients we’re isolated emotionally and physically,” Guidoos said.
She ultimately hopes that there will be significant changes to the healthcare facilities in Salmon Arm, and in other places where they need it most. She also hopes to find more oncologists working Salmon Arm so that people can get the care they deserve.
“It’s not just about chemotherapy or scans or bloodwork. It’s about feeling human in the system that is often making us feel like a number.”
