Rumoured cuts to health care home collection service makes Edmonton patients nervous

Being a stay-at-home mom to four kids is what Melissa Draganiuk thrives to do.

While her husband works, she feeds them, homeschools them, and takes all of them wherever she goes. Lately, there’s been a lot of trips to the Stollery Children’s Hospital.

In November, nine-year-old Victor was diagnosed with Hodgkin’s Lymphoma, a type of blood cancer. Victor now has a catheter in his body running from his arm to near his heart. He’s already completed two out of four scheduled rounds of chemotherapy, but it often takes the energy out of him.

“When I first wake up, I can’t move my body. It takes like 10-20 minutes to open my eyes,” said Victor.

This prompted his mother to sign up for the Home Mobile Collection Service. About once a week, an Assisted Living Alberta nurse comes to their home for a blood sample, and changes the catheter. Within two hours, Alberta Precision Laboratories (APL) comes to pick up the sample for testing. According to Draganiuk, the service is used and welcome by many going through cancer and other illnesses.

“I specifically requested to have home care so that I didn’t have to pack up four kids, and a sick one here especially on days if his energy is low. I don’t want to expose him to more of the public than I have to,” she said.

But recently, the Draganiuk family learned through other families that the service may be stopping Feb. 1. Without it, Draganiuk worries routines like hers would be upended by spending more time in hospitals and clinics than necessary.

Acute Care Alberta and APL tells CityNews in a statement: “No decisions have been made to change this service, and patients, particularly children with cancer, can expect they will continue to get to timely diagnostic services.

“In alignment with practices in the rest of the province, APL is working with Assisted Living Alberta to explore options, including scenarios where Home Care nurses may deliver patient lab specimens directly to the laboratory.”

This scenario gives Draganiuk and Victor hope the service will stick around.

“If it’s going to stay, that would be great,” Draganiuk said. “If we find out that it doesn’t end up staying, I think a lot of us will be very upset because we weren’t told, honestly. We shouldn’t be abolishing any programs that a lot of people are finding helpful.”

It’s expected Victor will be finished chemo in February. His prognosis is looking positive, and his family is waiting for the day he can ring the bell and be declared cancer free.

“Once this last wave or round is done, it should completely be gone,” he said.