We are honoured to announce that Be the Choice has been featured on the Centre for Health Innovation. The Centre for Health Innovation (CHI) is the new home for the Ottawa Integrative Cancer Centre (OICC), providing excellence in health care for the Ottawa community. The CHI provides clinical care, conducts high-impact research in oncology and […]
Did you catch our lunch and learn session at CHEO on November 15, 2021?? Here is what it was all about: Making Choice Possible: Consent and the Public Health Care System in Canada About the session: What does patient consent in the medical context entail? To what extent must choices in treatment be outlined and […]
This past year was another unprecedented one for all of us as we were still coping with the pandemic and trying to find some semblance of normal. At Be the Choice, we’ve always said that patients need us. As we witnessed surgeries and treatments being delayed, we knew this was truer now than ever before. […]
Self-advocacy is the action of representing oneself or one’s views or interests. In simple terms, this means making your voice heard! For breast cancer patients, self-advocacy is crucial. Only by advocating for yourself can treatment decisions take your views into account. At Be the Choice, we are passionate about self-advocacy. It’s partly what led to […]
Selam Ogbalidet (MD2022), Mina Boshra (MD2022), and Melanie Grondin (MD/PhD), three medical students at the University of Ottawa Faculty of Medicine, are conducting a pilot study that seeks to evaluate the utility of the Be the Choice (BTC) Decision Trees for patients with breast cancer who are undergoing breast reconstruction. Alongside Dr. Jing Zhang, staff […]
On January 1st, 2021, our Executive Director, Prof. Melanie Adrian, was appointed to the 2019 Order of Ontario. The Order of Ontario is the province’s highest civilian honour. Prof. Adrian has demonstrated excellence and achievement through her work as a scholar, activist and human rights professor. She is the co-founder and Executive Director of Be […]
At Be the Choice, we’ve always said that cancer patients need choices now more than ever before. This is especially true in the COVID-19 era. COVID has placed an immense burden on our health care system, resulting in delayed treatments, cancelled surgeries and postponed appointments. As we try to cope (and beat) COVID-19, cancer patients […]
The ball is about to drop. Whilst many will be celebrating the turn of 2019, this will be a very different year for the 27,000 or so Canadians who will be diagnosed with breast cancer. Once breast cancer has been confirmed, the first treatment option is often surgery. No matter how skilled your surgeon, it […]
Many of my first appointments in the cancer world were just a blur. I would sit, terrified, in these sterile clinic rooms wanting something to focus on besides the fact that a doctor would come through the door at any moment and throw some scary words out there. Words like aggressive and invasive, radiation and […]
I was diagnosed with breast cancer in February 2016. My understanding of the language of breast cancer that allowed me to fully comprehend my diagnosis and treatment options, came long after the news. Long after the radiologist told me that my mammogram was “highly suspicious for cancer.” Long after the surgeon doing my breast biopsy […]