The St. Joseph's Hospital has a brand new Chemotherapy unit, complete with having been named by two long standing members of the community.

If one burrows into the recesses of their memory, they may recall the 2018 Radiothon For Life in April. A $50,000 donation was made that day from an unnamed source to push the total over 200 grand. 

In a ceremony on Wednesday, the new ward was unveiled along with the names of the generous donors, who were Keith and Stacey Wempe. They decided to call it 'The Mel, Margaret and Clinton Grimes Chemotherapy Unit', naming it after their relatives.

"The expansion of the Chemo department helps us offer more privacy, more comfort measures for the family, individual places for them to get their treatments done," explained ER Manager Tara Daoust, "Our older was quite a bit smaller, so we were moving around the family and I felt that the family felt that they were in the way, we don't want that."

"It's important that the families are allowed to be here, because they're support. These patients go through a really tough time, and a scary time, and so to have the families able to be present here is a great asset," added Cheryl Harrison, the Director of Patient Services.

They designed the new ward to be as 'non-clinical' as possible in order to enhance the comfort for those being treated, and it's new location closer to the entrance will allow patients to avoid the ER and make their way straight to the unit.

Around 180-200 patients are seen annually in the Chemo ward in the Hospital, with around 550-600 treatments seen each year.