Irish Cancer Society Opens Re-Located Daffodil Centre in Letterkenny Shopping Centre
Vital Cancer Information and Support Centre now open to Donegal public
The Irish Cancer Society has re-located its planned Daffodil Centre in Letterkenny, Donegal. It will offer information, advice and support to anybody concerned about or affected by cancer. The new Centre has been made possible by the generous funds raised by Relay For Life Donegal and the support of the Darren Clarke Foundation.
The Letterkenny Centre will be temporarily located in the Letterkenny Shopping Centre until flood damage in Letterkenny General Hospital has been repaired. Harcourt Developments, which owns Letterkenny Shopping Centre, has kindly facilitated the re-location of the Daffodil Centre to the Shopping Centre and has waived its usual fees in kind support.
Teraze Toby, a specialist cancer nurse, will be responsible for the day-to-day management of the Daffodil Centre in Donegal. She will provide clear and accessible information, free of charge, on any cancer-related issue and will be supported by a group of 20 trained volunteers from the surrounding area. Cancer patients, family members and the general public can visit the Centre and access information on cancer prevention, early detection, cancer treatments and related side-effects, palliative care services, support and psychological care, practical entitlements and services available.
John McCormack, CEO of the Irish Cancer Society, said: “We are committed to providing vital cancer services to the people of Donegal and are delighted to announce the re-location of the Daffodil Centre to Letterkenny Shopping Centre. Our supporters in Donegal have worked hard to deliver and support community events such as Relay For Life and we are grateful to them for their ongoing generous support which has made this Centre possible. The Daffodil Centre is now open to all the people of Donegal. This, alongside our other vital services such as Night Nursing, Care to Drive and Financial Aid, will continue to support cancer patients and their families in Donegal.”
Brian McCracken, Letterkenny Shopping Centre Manager, said: “We are delighted to be able to support the Irish Cancer Society and offer them an accessible location for their Daffodil Centre, at no cost. Letterkenny Shopping Centre is committed to helping the community and we welcome the opportunity to work with the Irish Cancer Society and to offer our customers such a valued resource.”
In 2012 alone, the Irish Cancer Society Daffodil Centre service was contacted by 27,184 people and demand is growing. Of those who contacted the centres; 9,315 were people with enquiries or concerns about cancer or a cancer diagnosis, 11,304 were queries regarding lifestyle, early detection information and cancer awareness and the remaining 6,565 were people browsing the range of information available at the Centre.
The Daffodil Centre is open to the public, Monday to Friday, 9am -5pm with no appointment or referral necessary. The Irish Cancer Society has been developing information and support services for almost 50 years and is the leading provider of cancer information in Ireland. The Cancer Information Service (CIS), of which the Daffodil Centres are a part, offers advice, information and support to anyone worried about any aspect of cancer prevention, early detection, diagnosis, treatment and care. This service, which is staffed by experienced and specialist cancer nurses, incorporates the National Cancer Helpline (Freefone 1800 200 700: open Mon–Thurs, 9am–7pm and Fri 9am–5pm), email and a ‘walk-in’ caller service.
In addition to the Daffodil Centre, the Irish Cancer Society provides many other vital services to the people of Donegal. These include the Society’s Night Nursing Service which provided 177 nights of care to Donegal Cancer Patients in the last days of their lives last year and the Society’s Care to Drive transport service which operates in Letterkenny General Hospital and brought Donegal patients on 798 journeys to and from cancer treatment in 2012. Financial Aid grants of €28,840 were also awarded to Donegal cancer patients suffering financial hardship as a result of a cancer diagnosis.
Four Cancer Support Centres in Donegal, who are affiliated to the Irish Cancer Society, provide support and counselling services to cancer patients in Donegal while the Society’s nationwide Survivors Supporting Survivors Programme offers emotional and practical support to newly diagnosed patients. The Irish Cancer Society is also the largest voluntary funder of cancer research in Ireland, investing €2.8 million in research in 2012, which will ultimately help find better ways of diagnosing and treating cancer for patients across the country. All funds raised from the 2013 Relay For Life will help fund this research.
