The Center for Cancer and Health is a collaboration between the City of Copenhagen and the Danish Cancer Society. Read here how it all began.

In 2007, the Health Act came into force. The new legislation meant, among other things. a., that rehabilitation and rehabilitation should now take place almost exclusively in the municipalities.

The Health Act was the starting point for the Health Center for Cancer Victims – what is today in its current form called the Center for Cancer and Health.

The City of Copenhagen decided to establish a Health Center for Cancer Patients as a city-wide center to ensure sufficient volume to develop the area into a service of high professional quality.

A collaboration arises

Simultaneously with the decision to outsource the rehabilitation of cancer-stricken citizens as a municipal, city-wide center, an agreement was made with the Danish Cancer Society to join forces to lift the task.

In the spring of 2007, the City of Copenhagen and the Danish Cancer Society were therefore able to jointly open a Health Center for Cancer Victims in Ryesgade in Nørrebro.

The City of Copenhagen and the Danish Cancer Society have lived in a well-functioning “arranged marriage” since 2007 and are a living example of how co-creation between a public and a private company can create a synergy effect for the benefit of patients as well as relatives and survivors.

The two organizations together have a wide range of offerings.

The number of citizens referred for rehabilitation has steadily increased from 322 in 2008 to 1,061 in 2017. 

New house for the center

The center’s success led to the City of Copenhagen in 2009 choosing to set aside funds for the new construction of a municipal rehabilitation center in the form of a spectacular and multifunctional building on the corner of Tagensvej and Nørre Allé. It was of crucial importance that the house should be close to Rigshospitalet, where a large proportion of cancer patients are being treated.

Simultaneously with the establishment of the new center, the two organizations decided to change the name of the center to the Center for Cancer and Health.

You can read more about the thoughts behind the center’s building and architecture here.