Recognizing 2025 Rhapsody Healthcare Heroes Award nominee: Barrhead Community Cancer Centre team
The team is comprised of registered nurses Linda Knapp, Daniella Weirenga, Bailey Weber, Kristina Hoefels, Shelley Kaey, Charlotte Hill, Hope Meier, Donna Simoneau, clerks Renee Kobes, Krisha Aarsen and physicians Dr. Kent Bernes, Dr. Abdeldaim Tawfik and Dr. Egbertus Bletterman de Waal.
Community: Barrhead
Barrhead and area cancer patients are in excellent hands in their home community.
Thanks to the Barrhead Community Cancer Centre (BCCC) team, area residents have been able to access local chemotherapy and other cancer treatments along with emotional, financial, environmental, and social wellness support in their own community instead of having to travel to larger centres.
“The team’s compassion and dedication to delivering specialized care locally makes them healthcare heroes to the patients, families, and communities they support,” writes Lorianne Edwards, in support of the group’s nomination for 2025 RhPAP Rhapsody Healthcare Heroes Award.
The BCCC is one of 11 community cancer centres across the province and was the first to open in 1996. The Barrhead Centre has also assisted patients from Slave Lake, Hinton, Drayton Valley, Bonnyville, and the Northwest Territories when their own communities were faced with wildfires or staff shortages.
Violet Schriever volunteers at the BCCC and has witnessed the team’s impact firsthand.
“When the patient is stressed, I watch the [team members] hold their hand or have their hand on their arm and assure them they will be there for them,” she notes.
“The Barrhead Cancer Clinic team brings sunshine to their patients while they are going through a trying time. They have such big hearts.”
Annette Driessen’s younger sister, Monica Koberstein, was a patient at BCCC and she always appreciated the team listening to her concerns rather than simply being a medical statistic.
“Many of the Centre’s staff members attended my sister’s celebration of life, showing how much they cared for my sister,” Driessen says. “Considering how many patients these individuals care for each day and each month; I am sincerely moved by their compassion.”
BCCC collaborates with several community groups and volunteers to enhance patient care. Local minor hockey writes cards and shovel snow for cancer patients, while sewing groups donate quilts and cushions. Family and Community Support Services offers comfort packages and arranges special celebrations. A Road to Home program is designed to “remove all barriers so patients can focus on their health journey” through support from the Barrhead Ladies Auxiliary.
“From the nursing staff who provide the hands-on care daily to the physician team who ensure the patients are well taken care of, the team in Barrhead truly goes above and beyond to ensure patients feel comfortable, welcome, and safe during such a vulnerable and difficult time in their lives,” says Angela Kramm, nursing care manager at the Barrhead Healthcare Centre.
“I am so proud of the team for their dedication to ensuring the lives of their patients are in the forefront of care.”