The High River Hospital, which has helped served thousands not just in High River but the surrounding communities, will add another piece to their facility to once again to serve the Foothills.

The High River Health Foundation has raised enough funds and the construction of its brand new cancer care facility is set to begin.

Executive Director Michael Brown says the clinic will give residents a choice of where they can go for cancer treatment and not have to deal with the stress of fighting cancer and being in the big city.

"The biggest thing is that so many people from Okotoks and High River don't have to drive up to the Tom Baker Cancer Centre, do chemo and then drive back through rush hour traffic in Calgary," he says.

The current cancer care clinic in High River does serve hundreds of patients going through chemotherapy now, but Brown says when the $1.6 million project is done, it will feel more like a clinic and instead of patients feeling cramped in the treatment room, they'll now have freedom while waiting for their treatment to finish.

"It will have more capacity and so long as they can run longer hours, they can do more days in a week of treatment," he says. "Also the biggest thing is patient comfort and safety. Right now it's a pretty grizzly affair to sit for eight hours in a tiny little room with no privacy."

Brown says when patients come to the new clinic they'll be floored by the improvements.

"This is going to be a lovely facility. It's designed for safety in terms of both patients and staff being able to see everyone and it's going to be way better with nice, big windows looking outside and we're going to build a little garden outside the cancer centre."

The cancer care centre is expected to be completed by next year.

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