Radiation & Medical Oncology at Saint Joseph

This letter was set to Pat Marcum, are contact person for Saint Joseph’s Hospital from Julie Steffey.

Good Morning Pat,

Our patients and families here at Saint Joseph Cancer Center – in the waiting and treatment rooms in Radiation and Medical Oncology – LOVE Love on a Leash!  They look forward to Fridays.  It is amazing to watch the atmosphere immediately change.  Everyone is sitting, waiting silently (and by their expressions, sometimes tensely).  As soon as they see the dogs through the windows as they getting out of the cars, they begin talking to one another, telling stories about their pets and laughing.  Then the dogs arrive in the room and that is when the real “magic” starts.  We have already seen some incredible moments. 

The staff of Saint Joseph Cancer Center ’s Resource Services, Saint Joseph Hematology Oncology and Saint Joseph Radiation Oncology will vouch for LOAL!

Thank you all for your work and the quality comfort moments you have provided our Oncology patients and families,

Julie

Woodford County Library

The Woodford county library lists the following information and pictures about our reading program.  To learn more about the library, please visit their website:http://woodfordcountylibrary.com/.

“Paws to Read is a program held at the Main Library, usually on the first Saturday ever month, that allows children ages 5-11 to practice their reading skills by reading stories they choose to friendly dogs.”

7 New LOAL Teams

On behalf of our President, Deb Rafclffe, and everyone at LOAL, welcome to our new teams!

Paula Edwards and Candi

Renee Couture and Tessa

Emily Couture and India

Alli Eckman and Danny

Julie Mellon and Ginny

Liz Bently and Theo

Judith Knecht and Knox

Saint Joseph's Newest Volunteers

The following article was published in Saint Joseph's Volunteer Newsletter:

The Volunteer Office has been working for a quite a while now, developing a program for Pet Visitation. While we are still working to finalize the program for these volunteers to visit within the hospital, we were able to have them start visiting the oncology patients in the new Cancer Resource Center. We have partnered with our local Love on a Leash, whose members are becoming Saint Joseph Volunteers.

Julie Steffey, with the Cancer Resource Center, let us know the new program is going great!:

Here are three quotes from patients from our weekly Friday morning visits: 

“Well, I never expected to see this. What a wonderful surprise!”

“I just love dogs, but since my cancer treatments I haven’t been able to take care of one. This is such a treat.”

“Now I have another reason to look forward to Fridays!”

It is a joy to watch the visits each week. The waiting and treatment room atmosphere changes completely as soon as LOAL comes in. Everyone starts talking, laughing and joking – telling stories about their pets and visiting with one another.

I just can’t thank you enough, Julie

We hope our new volunteers will be able to starting visiting in our waiting rooms and our patient floors very soon. If you and your dog are interested in being Pet Visitors, you can visit the Love on a Leash website for more information: www.loalcky.com.