What is a radiation bunker? How adding a fourth one will help Windsor-Essex residents

A radiation bunker is seen at Windsor Regional Hospital in Windsor, Ont. in this undated image. (Source: Windsor Regional Hospital)

The Ontario government announced funding Thursday to help the Windsor Regional Cancer Centre.

“This is the first time we've had the full greenlight to move ahead and we've got the finish line in sight,” Regional Vice-President of Cancer Services, Jonathan Foster told CTV News Windsor Friday.

Foster said they’ve been waiting for nearly a decade to get a fourth radiation bunker — which is a “specialized structure that houses what's called a ‘linear accelerator’ or in layman's terms a radiation treatment machine.”

The province is funding the project with $10 to $15 million in support.

“Some supply chain issues have popped up since the project started, so the costing is a little bit of a moving target,” said Foster.

Foster noted adding a fourth machine will open the door for more cutting edge therapies.

“And each radiation machine can roughly treat about 500 unique people more per year,” said Foster. “So that's 500 more people in Windsor-Essex that would be able to get radiation treatment.”

Like Windsor Regional Hospital, the cancer centre is landlocked within their current building. The new bunker will be built outside the current walls of the building with a “passageway” connecting the two.

Regardless, Foster believes the bunker will be operational by the fall, which means their spring and summer will be especially busy.

“It's going to be a labour of love from our team because as I've stated they've been waiting for this for a decade,” said Foster. “They're definitely motivated to do everything that they can to get this up and get this started.”