From both sides of the treatment chair
By Zoe Waters, Executive Director, Barwon Health Foundation.
Every day, the treatment chairs in Barwon Health’s Andrew Love Cancer Centre Day Ward begin to fill.
Some may have only just heard the words, “you have cancer.” Others have been making this journey for months, and for some, even years.
As each patient settles into their treatment chair for what will likely be hours of treatment. Some choose to read to pass the time. Others close their eyes and rest. Some quietly hold the hand of someone they love.
No one wants to be sitting in those chairs.
For years, Gill Hodgson knew exactly what it meant when a patient took a seat in the Day Ward of the Andrew Love Cancer Centre.
As an oncology nurse, she had spent countless hours caring for people receiving treatment. She knew the routines, the long days and the relationships that form between patients and the people looking after them.
Life eventually took Gill in a different direction. She went on to work as a welfare coordinator at a local primary school, becoming a much-loved part of her seaside community.
Then came a cancer diagnosis of her own.
After discovering two lumps, Gill suddenly found herself experiencing cancer care from a very different perspective. This time as a patient.
There is something particularly valuable about the way Gill sees things.
She knows cancer care as a nurse, but she also knows what it is like to be the person sitting in the treatment chair. To have your days shaped by appointments.
Each week, around 200 people will receive treatment in Barwon Health’s Andrew Love Cancer Centre Day Ward.
For many, that means spending hours at a time in a treatment chair receiving immunotherapy, chemotherapy or an infusion.
It is why the Barwon Health Foundation’s Andrew Love Cancer Centre Appeal is aiming to raise $75,000 to support Barwon Health upgrading eight chairs in the Centre’s Day Ward.
What I particularly appreciate about her decision to share her story in support of the Andrew Love Cancer Centre Appeal is that, once again, she is thinking about others.
First as a nurse, then through her work supporting children and families at school, and now as someone prepared to talk openly about her own cancer experience.
The care delivered every day by Barwon Health’s Cancer Services is exceptional. Through this appeal, our community has an opportunity to add something extra to support that experience.
You can support patients like Gill and the Andrew Love Cancer Centre Appeal here: www.barwonhealthfoundation.org.au/andrewlovechairappeal
