Childhood Cancer Care Closer to Home in Northwestern Ontario: One Year Later

Families, patients and healthcare teams came together to celebrate the first anniversary of the Pediatric Oncology Group of Ontario (POGO) Satellite Clinic and POGO Interlink Nursing Program at Thunder Bay Regional Health Sciences Centre (TBRHSC) in partnership with Children’s Hospital at London Health Sciences Centre. Together, they marked a year of delivering specialized childhood cancer care closer to home for children and youth across Northwestern Ontario. Since launching in June 2025, the programs have helped improve access to coordinated, family-centred care and support closer to home while reducing the burden of travel.

Prior to the launch, families in Northwestern Ontario faced repeated long-distance travel to London for treatment, often requiring extended time away from home, school, work, and community supports. For families across a vast region that includes rural, remote, and First Nations communities, the services are helping address longstanding barriers to care by ensuring that geography is no longer a determining factor in access to specialized childhood cancer services. Over the year, families made 92 ambulatory visits to the POGO Satellite Clinic and the POGO Interlink Nurse made 61 home, school, and community visits.

“When our daughter Nora was diagnosed with leukemia just before her fourth birthday, the isolation of being uprooted from home to Children’s Hospital in London only added to the immense weight of a cancer diagnosis,” says dad Andy Puiatti. “Thanks to the POGO Satellite Clinic and the support of our POGO Interlink Nurse there, Nora has been able to receive much of her care 10 minutes away from home, helping our family stay together when it mattered most.”

“As the official leader of Ontario’s childhood cancer care system, POGO is proud to celebrate Thunder Bay Regional Health Sciences Centre as our ninth Satellite Clinic, with services delivered in partnership with Children’s Hospital at London Health Sciences Centre,” said Lauren Ettin, CEO of POGO. “The first year of the POGO Satellite Clinic and Interlink Nursing Program demonstrates the power of a connected provincial system of care. By combining specialized expertise with local delivery, POGO is improving access for families today while building a stronger more equitable system of care for the future.”

We are proud to celebrate one year as an official Pediatric Oncology Group of Ontario (POGO) Satellite Clinic. This milestone is about making an impactful difference for families across Northwestern Ontario, ensuring children can access high-quality cancer care close to home, surrounded by their loved ones,” said Dr. Rhonda Crocker Ellacott, President and CEO of Thunder Bay Regional Health Sciences Centre and CEO of the Thunder Bay Regional Health Research Institute.

“Over the past year, our dedicated team and strong partnerships with POGO and the Children’s Hospital at London Health Sciences Centre have reduced travel, eased burdens, and, most importantly, kept families together during some of the most difficult of times. We are grateful to everyone who has worked tirelessly to bring this vision to life.”

“In just over one year, the partnership with Children’s Hospital, London Health Sciences Centre, POGO and Thunder Bay Regional Health Sciences Centre has made a meaningful difference in providing quality childhood cancer care closer to home for children and families across Northwestern Ontario,” says Dr. Alexandra Zorzi, Division Head, Pediatric Hematology Oncology, Children’s Hospital, London Health Sciences Centre. “We are grateful to the pediatric oncology team in Thunder Bay for their commitment and support. We look forward to continuing to strengthen this partnership and working together to meet the unique needs of children and families we serve across the region.”

In partnership with the leading pediatric oncology programs across the province, POGO Satellite Clinics provide safe, coordinated cancer care closer to home while reducing the disruption that travelling long distances for treatment can cause. The POGO Interlink Nursing Program complements clinical care by supporting children and families across hospital, home, school, and community settings. POGO Interlink Nurses serve as a consistent point of contact, helping families navigate complex healthcare systems, access resources, coordinate services, and maintain connections to their everyday lives throughout treatment and beyond.

About Pediatric Oncology Group of Ontario (POGO)

The Pediatric Oncology Group of Ontario (POGO) is the official leader of Ontario’s childhood cancer care system and is the advisor to the Government of Ontario on childhood cancer care. POGO provides wraparound care to ensure that everyone affected by childhood cancer has access to the best care and support, from diagnosis, through treatment and into survivorship.

About Thunder Bay Regional Health Sciences Centre (TBRHSC)

Thunder Bay Regional Health Sciences Centre (TBRHSC), a 425-bed academic specialized acute care facility, is a national leader in Patient and Family Centred Care. As the only tertiary care provider in Northwestern Ontario, we provide comprehensive services to a population of over 250,000 residents in a region the size of France. Effectively addressing the health care needs of patients and families has earned us both Innovation Awards and Leading Practice Designations. As an academic health sciences centre, we teach the next generation of health care providers and advance medical research. Patients benefit from interprofessional teams of dedicated health care providers and access to leading-edge medical technology and clinical trials. To fulfill its teaching and research strategic goals, TBRHSC is supported by Thunder Bay Regional Health Research Institute (TBRHRI) as a not-for-profit and independent research corporation. TBRHRI is the research arm of TBRHSC and seeks to lead research to improve the health outcome of the people of Northwestern Ontario and beyond.

About London Health Sciences Centre
Children’s Hospital at London Health Sciences Centre (LHSC), in London, Ontario, has been the home of exceptional paediatric care for more than 100 years. Caring for patients from birth to 18-years-old, Children’s Hospital is one of four acute tertiary paediatric hospitals in the province and has state-of-the-art oncology, epilepsy surgery, trauma and intensive care programs. Our compassionate and talented teams provide world-class care tailored to patients and their families from across southwestern Ontario and beyond. Through the Children’s Health Research Institute we are steadfast in our commitment to research and education and are proud to partner with many organizations ensuring that we are innovating paediatric care now and long into the future. For more information about Children’s Hospital, please visit www.lhsc.on.ca/childrens-hospital.