West Clare cancer care centre to open

A NEW service funded by the West Clare Mini Marathon will be unveiled next Tuesday at 2pm, when the cancer care centre in Kilkee opens.

Although a figure of €131,636 has been collected from the efforts of those who participated in the 12th West Clare Mini Marathon on January 31, some cards have still to be accounted for. However, the entire sum from the 2010 mini marathon will continue to help provide cancer patient services for people throughout the region in the coming months.
Along with the provision of palliative care units in Regina House, Kilrush and at Ennistymon Community Hospital, palliative care aids for cancer patients, funding for travel costs and a taxi service, Donna McGrath, daughter of Willie and Mary McGrath, will voluntarily run the West Clare Mini Marathon Cancer Care Centre five days a week, from Monday to Friday.
Among the free services for cancer patients on offer will be professional counselling services, including bereavement counselling, medical and alternative therapy at the centre, which is located just around the corner from the Bank of Ireland in O’Curry Street, Kilkee.
Donna said she is happy to voluntarily donate her time to running the office for at least 10 hours per week.
“I don’t really mind it when you’re doing something to help people. I’ve known people that have died of cancer, friends of family that have died and anything that you can do to help people, you would do,” she said.
People are asked to telephone the office with enquiries or if they want to attend counselling sessions or join the bereavement support group, which is due to be established at the centre.
Donna feels that having somebody based in the office will encourage people to use it. “When people ring they like to hear a voice, rather than an answering machine. There’s an awful lot of people that don’t even really know what we do with the mini marathon. They don’t really understand what we offer,” she believes.
Donna also maintains getting more young people involved in the fundraising will help to ensure that the mini marathon and cancer centre will have long-term futures.
“I just started playing football again and I’m trying to get younger people involved in doing the marathon as well. It’s not just older people that are getting cancer. It’s younger people as well. I think we think we’re never going to get it because we’re young,” she said.
While the office will initially be open for two hours each weekday, those times could change depending on demand.
“If I find that there’s no demand for 2pm to 4pm and I find there’s a demand for 5pm to 7pm, I can change to suit people,” Donna explained.
Committee chairman Willie McGrath says that having a base, which was left to the committee in a will by the late Bernie Gibson, has given the organisation a huge boost.
“I feel that what we have achieved over the last 12 years, we’re sitting on now [the centre]. But it has to get a new identity, in the sense that from now on, everything will be happening from here,” he explained, before pointing out that anyone who avails of the services at the centre must have a letter confirming that they have been diagnosed with cancer.
“We have to let people know that this is not a soft touch. We don’t have a choice but to go down that road. We’re only making it look more professional,” he added.
Willie is keen to involve recovered cancer patients in some of the perspective talks.
“We want to encourage cancer patients, who have gone through their treatment, who have got the all-clear, to volunteer, to come along and give a talk here to the newer patients,” he said.
His wife and committee secretary Mary says that the centre will have several uses.
“One of the purposes of the centre is to keep control of all applications, invoices and anything that’s required by our accountants or whoever needs to look at our paperwork. It’s also open to groups of people that want to come and discuss issues. It’s going to be private and confidential. Just a safe place where people can voice whatever their concerns are,” she said.
“We’re hoping that groups of people from the different parishes will make contact with us and we’ll make the centre available to them,” she added.
Donna can be contacted in the West Clare Mini Marathon Cancer Centre on 065 9060762.