Patients at a world-renowned medical facility west of Edmonton are concerned their future treatment will be in jeopardy due to staffing issues.
Concerns are growing that the hospital may lose its chief physician. Institute of Medical Reconstructive Sciences (iRSM) specializes in cancers of the face and neck.
Being diagnosed with cancer is a scary thing, and the aftereffects of surgery and treatment can cause a survivor to have a diminished quality of life. The same is true for survivors of trauma in car accidents and other incidents, or for those with birth defects.
For 31 years, iRSM within Misericordia Community Hospital has focused on medical reconstruction and rehabilitation to improve life after treatment.
According to Alberta Health Services, a major focus of the agency is on reconstructing portions of the head and neck using bone-anchored implant technology (osseointegration) to allow for the installation of custom-designed and manufactured prostheses.
Brenda Frederick is a long-term patient who is extremely grateful for the care she has received over the past 23 years. She had osteosarcoma, a type of bone cancer, in her jaw. She was only able to remove the tumor through an 18-hour surgery that removed half of her face.
“If someone tells you they’re going to reshape your face and mouth, it’s terrifying,” Frederick said of the highly specialized surgeons who saved her life.
“It's really scary. But I have faith.”
Frederick said there were five teams in the operating room who worked together to remove the cancerous cheek and jaw bones, take another bone from her leg and place it in her face, perform skin grafts and then perform meticulous plastic surgery to reshape her appearance.
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“So basically my face goes from here to here to here,” she said, starting at the base of the eyes, along the nose, to the cheeks and mouth and down to the neck, “and then pulling back again,” she said.
She had thought she would live with visible scars, but the truth is, it would be hard for strangers to tell she had undergone such extensive surgery.
“I said, 'You can make me look like a scary old woman, like an old hag on the sea,'” Frederick recalled of a conversation with his doctor before the surgery. “And he said, 'No, you're going to look better than Whitney Houston!'”
The face of Brenda Frederick, who underwent major surgery 23 years ago to remove osteosarcoma bone cancer and was treated at the Institute for Medical Reconstructive Sciences in Edmonton.
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Although Frederick beat cancer, the reconstruction of her face required special attention: She said the area is sensitive and prone to infection, so she has to pay attention to her diet and oral hygiene. Even simple things like seeing a dentist for others are complicated for her, but with the guidance of her maxillofacial prosthodontist and the iRSM team, it has been made easy.
“When you’re dealing with someone like me, you’re dealing with highly sensitive tissue that’s been taken from another part of your body and adapted there.”
“The bottom line is: Maintenance and upkeep are essential. We can't survive without it.”
Twenty years after the surgery, she sees her doctor every six months for checkups. Frederick said during her most recent visit, the doctor told her his contract was set to expire on June 30 and said there had been no communication with Covenant Health about his condition.
“He wanted to stay there. He was very professional, very dedicated — this guy had put everything he had into this field,” Frederick said, adding that her doctor had moved to Canada to practice his specialty.
“He wasn't from here. He also told me there was no one in the province or in Canada who was trained for this kind of work.”
“There are a lot of prosthodontists around, but they’re not trained to deal with sensitivity issues in tissue areas — like bone structure, new structure,” Frederick said.
iRSM is a joint venture between the University of Alberta, Alberta Health Services and Covenant Health, and the institute is based at Misericordia Community Hospital.
Global News was unable to speak directly to the doctor to get his side of the story and therefore is not naming him.
Covenant Health released a statement saying it could not comment on “personal human resources matters” for privacy reasons.
The healthcare provider said many iRSM services are continuing, and there are no expected delays in surgeries for patients with head and neck conditions or trauma.
“When recruiting clinicians, Covenant Health reviews the clinical skills needed to support patient care and needs. We are currently recruiting qualified prosthodontists to serve on iRSM's multidisciplinary team, and until we have additional resources, we will continue to see patients as capacity allows,” the statement said.
People travel from all over Alberta for specialist care, and Frederick worries Edmonton could lose that care, or a situation could arise where treatments offered at public clinics could only be provided through private facilities.
“For patients like me, we have nowhere to go at this point,” Frederick said.
Covenant Health said “continuity of care is our top priority” and encouraged patients with questions about their treatment to contact the clinic.
A Change.org petition has been launched. Calling on the provincial government and Covenant Health to ensure continuity of iRSM’s publicly funded services.
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