Boots Ireland and Irish Cancer Society form partnership to support people living with cancer in Ireland

Boots Night Walks for Night Nurses’ to raise funds for the Irish Cancer Society Night Nurse Service

Boots Ireland today announced that they will partner with the Irish Cancer Society as their new Charity of the Year for 2012/13.  The aim of the partnership is to support people living with cancer in Ireland and to increase awareness, promote prevention and raise vital funds to support the Irish Cancer Society Nursing Services. To mark the launch of the partnership, Boots Ireland employees and customers are participating in a series of ‘Boots Night Walks for Night Nurses’ which are taking place across the country on 29 August 2012.  All money raised will be invested in the Night Nurse Service that is provided free of charge by the Irish Cancer Society to cancer patients in their home. [[{"type":"media","view_mode":"media_large","fid":"1071","field_deltas":{},"link_text":null,"attributes":{"height":"480","width":"305","class":"media-image media-element file-media-large","data-delta":"1"},"fields":{}}]] Boots Ireland will be supporting a number of key campaigns throughout the year as part of its partnership with the Irish Cancer Society including Breast Cancer Awareness Month in October 2012, Lung Cancer Awareness Month in January 2013 and Sun Smart for skin cancer in May 2013.  For each of these campaigns, Boots Ireland stores will become community- based destinations for a range of cancer information and advice including signs and symptoms, causes, lifestyle advice, tests and treatment.  Boots Ireland pharmacists will be trained by the Irish Cancer Society to provide expert guidance to customers in stores nationwide.  Further events, support and fundraising activities will also be announced as the partnership evolves. As the first initiative of the partnership, the ‘Boots Night Walks for Night Nurses’ will see a series of walks taking place throughout the country.  Employees from each of Boots Ireland’s 71 stores will be enlisting customer support to participate in a walk.  Each walk will start at 8pm mirroring the time that the Irish Cancer Society Night Nurse Service starts each night.  Participants will raise funds to support this service through sponsorship and bucket collections along the walk. Speaking at the announcement, John McCormack, CEO, Irish Cancer Society, said, “We are delighted to be partnering with Boots Ireland as our Charity of the Year.  Ireland’s cancer rate is one of the highest in the world. One in three of us will develop cancer during our life time. These stark figures mean that there is an ever increasing demand for the direct patient care services provided by the Irish Cancer Society. The Irish Cancer Society night nurses delivered over 8,000 nights of care to over 2,014 patients and their families coping with the advanced stages of cancer in 2011. This service is provided in the comfort of their own homes and the demand for this service has grown an average of 11% per year over the past six years.  I would encourage everyone to visit their local Boots store to find out about how to participate in a ‘Boots Night Walk for Night Nurses’ in your local area.  This partnership will also see Boots Ireland’s pharmacists trained to provide information and support for customers living with cancer in their local community.” Carmel O’Brien, HR Director, Boots Ireland, said, “We are very proud to announce the Irish Cancer Society as our new Charity of the Year.  Cancer affects so many of our customers, employees and their families so it is really important that we support a charity that is meaningful and can make a difference to as many people as possible through our store network nationwide.  The ‘Boots Night Walks for Night Nurses’ is just one of the ways that we will support the Irish Cancer Society and I hope that many of you will join your local Boots store on the 29 August to help raise money for this critical service.  We look forward to unveiling a number of other initiatives as our Charity of the Year status evolves.” Up to 30,000 people were diagnosed with cancer in 2011 and new cases of cancer are expected to reach over 43,000 in the year 2020. Cancer will affect one in three of us during the course of our lifetime . The biggest risk factor for developing cancer is increasing age followed by lifestyle choices such as smoking, poor diet and inactivity2. Therefore early detection is crucial for a good outcome in most cases2. Cancer is increasingly viewed as a condition from which people survive and very high cure rates for cancer can be achieved in many cancers2. For further information about the Irish Cancer Society and Boots Ireland Charity of the Year partnership and the ‘Boots Night Walks for Night Nurses’, visit your local Boots store or www.cancer.ie.