Cancer centre celebrates 'a special visitors' birthday
Posted 19th February 2014
Patients and staff helped a special visitor to The Clatterbridge Cancer Centre celebrate her 4th birthday today (Wednesday 19th February)
Border Collie Callie, the Centre’s Pets as Therapy dog, along with her owner Sue Yates visits the specialist cancer centre every week to spend time with patients.
Specially trained by Therapy Dogs Nationwide, Callie brings comfort and companionship to thousands of patients every year at the Centre, both young and old, giving them the opportunity to stroke, hold and talk to her.
Tim Grose, a patient at The Clatterbridge Cancer Centre, said: “I live in the Isle of Man and have two Border Collie dogs at home so when I first saw Callie it was lovely as it reminded me of home. As all of my family and friends are in the Isle of Man so it’s the highlight of my day when Callie comes to visit the ward, she’s like a breath of fresh air.”
To mark Callie’s special day, staff made a fuss of her by organising her very own birthday celebrations including a birthday cake, a card and lots of presents.
Callie’s owner Sue, who is a volunteer for Pets as Therapy, said: “I have been coming to The Clatterbridge Cancer Centre as a therapy dog volunteer for nine years and every time I come in I am greeted by patients and staff like it’s the first time. It’s wonderful to see the positive impact Pets as Therapy has on patients and their families – staff look forward to our visits just as much too!”
Pets as Therapy is a community based charity providing therapeutic visits to hospitals and a variety of other establishments. Today there are over 5,000 active therapy dogs working throughout the UK.
ENDS
For more details please contact Susan King on 0151 482 7719 or susan.king@clatterbridgecc.nhs.uk
Notes to editor
The Clatterbridge Cancer Centre is one of the largest, networked cancer centres in the UK, employing 860 staff members and treating 28,000 patients each year.
The Clatterbridge Caner Centre is one of the UK’s leading providers of non-surgical oncology treatments including pioneering chemotherapy, radiotherapy and proton therapy, combining its world-class clinical services, research and academic excellence, it provides the highest quality, specialist cancer diagnosis and care for more than 2.3million residents in Merseyside, Cheshire, North Wales, the Isle of Man and parts of Lancashire as well as national and international cancer patients.
In August 2013, The Clatterbridge Cancer Centre was rated in the top 20 per cent of organisations in the country for overall treatment and care, according to the latest National Cancer Patient Experience Survey results.
