Northern Montana Sletten Cancer Center Holds Open House

Havre, Montana –October 26, 2017 – Last evening, at the Northern Montana Sletten Cancer Center the lights stayed on longer than usual. From 6:00 until 8:00 pm visitors to the Sletten were treated to refreshments, tours of the facility and the comradery of fellow cancer patients, friends and family. Some of the visitor were former patients, some were current patients, and some were donors of the original capital campaign to help build the Sletten in 2008.

The guests were introduced to Sarah Spangler, RN; Director of Nursing for the Medical/Surgical floor at Northern Montana Hospital as well as the Sletten. After introducing her nursing staff and the radiation therapist, Sarah introduced Dr. Mohammed Kanaan. Dr. Kanaan is board certified in both Oncology and Hematology. Dr. Kanaan gave a short presentation on "What is Cancer" and spoke of the many therapies used to treat cancer, both past and present.

Two former Sletten patients spoke as well; Connie Peterson and Nancy Cronin; sharing with the community their struggles with cancer and how the Sletten was an important part of their recovery. Undergoing chemotherapy and radiation therapy for a cancer can be very hard on a patient, both mentally and physically. Yet both ladies spoke as to how the caring staff at the Sletten helped them immensely. Another common theme was how removing the need to travel for their treatments made the process easier on patients and their loved ones.

The Northern Montana Sletten Cancer Center first opened its doors in 2008 but was closed for a short period. The Sletten reopened two years ago when Dr. Kanaan joined the staff at Northern Montana Health Care. Being able to have both chemotherapy and radiation therapy available here on the Hi-line has been a tremendous asset to the community. The staff at the Northern Montana Sletten Cancer Center look forward to many more years of helping their community in the battle against cancer.