September 2, 2008

Renfrew Victoria Hospital (RVH) is pleased to announce that Dr. Jason Pantarotto has joined its cancer care team.

Dr. Pantarotto replaces Dr. Olu Agboola, who had been traveling to Renfrew for more than 15 years to provide care for patients undergoing radiation treatments.

While the patients must travel to Ottawa for their treatments, caregivers at the local clinic can provide follow-up care, answer questions or concerns, and consult with newly diagnosed patients.

The RVH clinic has been providing care for cancer patients throughout Renfrew County since 1993. Dr. Agboola was instrumental in teaching local health care professionals about new cancer technologies and advances in cancer research.

“We are very grateful to Dr. Agboola for all that he did for the patients of Renfrew County,” comments RVH CEO Randy Penney. “He provided a great service through our cancer care clinic.”

The oncology department has another cancer specialist, Dr. Vince Young, a medical oncologist from the Ottawa Hospital Cancer Centre who reviews chemotherapy treatments every two weeks. Dr. Pantarotto will see radiation patients for every four weeks.

Dr. Pantarotto is a graduate of the University of Western Ontario and received his radiation oncology specialty training in Ottawa. He traveled to the Netherlands for his fellowship training, where he specialized in advanced radiation technologies in lung cancer at the Free University of Amsterdam.

Now based at the Ottawa Hospital Cancer Centre which works with a number of satellite clinics, Dr. Pantarotto says that RVH has a reputation for being efficient and well-run.

“When the opportunity came up, I jumped at it,” he comments, pointing out that it is of great benefit to him as a doctor to be able to see a wide variety of cancer patients.

“It’s also good to keep in touch with what’s going on in the community,” he adds.

He notes that he is looking forward to working alongside local family physicians who can provide helpful insights into the patients themselves, and teach him about practices and routines at RVH.

On the days when both Dr. Young and Dr. Pantarotto are in Renfrew, they can see a total of approximately 40 patients. Dr. Pantarotto says it only makes sense to save that many trips to the city for care that can be provided closer to home. A sample of patients at one of his first clinics came from Cobden, Barry’s Bay and Deep River.

“The doctors come in from Ottawa with the patients’ charts and everything,” comments Nathalie Langevin, RVH’s satellite clinic coordinator.

During consultations on his second day in Renfrew, Dr. Pantarotto commented on the nice, relaxed environment at RVH.

“It’s very much a team environment here,” he says.

He quickly noticed that the goal of the hospital focuses on efficient patient care. “They really move quickly along and do not make patients wait any longer than they have to, which is great because that’s not always the case in a larger clinic,” he concludes.

Margaret Demuth, a nurse in the clinic, believes the new specialist will fit in perfectly with the RVH team, noting that he is approachable, easy to work with, and “he’s very thorough with his patients.”

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(For more information, contact Randy Penney, CEO, Renfrew Victoria Hospital, 613-432-4851 ext. 260.)