The B.C. Cancer Foundation welcomes Vernon’s Neil Farmer to its Board of Directors.
Neil, the Vice President of Operations at A&W Food Services of Canada, will contribute to the organization by supporting and advancing research and care for a disease he’s had personal connections with.
“Like most Canadians, cancer has struck very close to home for me in recent years,” said Farmer. “I admire the work that is done by both the professionals and volunteers at BC Cancer, and was inspired to offer my time and energy to help.”
Farmer began his career at A&W while in high school and over the past 40 plus years has worked in various roles and cities before settling in Vernon in 1998. He has worked in marketing analysis and operating system creation prior to assuming his current role where he leads a team of 50 people providing operations support to over 900 restaurants across Canada.
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Since 2014, Farmer has served on the business advisory board at The Centre for Services Leadership, a part of the W.P. Carey School of Business at Arizona State University.
He joins the board as the Foundation continues its fundraising campaign to bring a PET/CT scanner to the B.C. Cancer – Kelowna centre. Currently, there are only two publicly funded PET/CT scanners in B.C. and both are located at B.C. Cancer’s Vancouver centre, meaning patients from Vernon have to trek to Vancouver for their vital scans.
The purchase of a PET/CT scanner for the Southern Interior will help ease the burden of travel for patients and their families dealing with an already stressful situation.
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“PET/CT technology enables us to make the most accurate diagnosis and provide the best treatment,” says Dr. Ross Halperin, regional medical director at BC Cancer — Kelowna centre. “Bringing a PET/CT scanner to the Southern Interior means patients in Vernon will have access to crucial care much closer to home.”
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