Patient Initiatives

Patient Initiatives ease burdens for local cancer patients. Locally funded programs support our patients, so they can focus on treatment and care. The Windsor Cancer Centre Foundation provides funding to enhance patient care for initiatives like the Patient Assistance Fund, Dignity Robes, Robes for Radiation, the Holiday Cheer program, and more.

Dignity Robes

Being diagnosed with cancer is life changing and can turn your world upside down while taking your dignity with it. The Dignity Robe was designed to give women comfort and control, both emotionally and physically, while going through radiation therapy for breast and lung cancer.
 
When a patient goes to the Cancer Centre for the first time, they’re given a gift. They are given a Dignity Robe. These robes come in a choice of colours and open in the front and on the sides with velcro allowing women the control to be partially covered during treatment.
 
“It’s a traumatic experience,” said Audrey Festeryga, a breast cancer patient. “You don’t know what to expect going through treatment. Unlike a hospital gown, these Dignity Robes provide you with a level of comfort, ease and privacy during a fairly intimate situation. They are pretty, practical and I plan on keeping mine as a gardening smock when I no longer need it for therapy. Whoever thought of these, really knew what they were doing.”
 
Attached to every Dignity Robe is a little inscription that reads “This Dignity Robe was made for you in Windsor in the hopes that it helps as you undergo your healing process of radiation therapy. It is yours to take home, launder and iron as needed, and keep, burn, bury or whatever you wish to do with it when you are healed.”
 
Thanks to Mary Lynn Rowberry and her team of volunteers for bringing this idea to the Windsor Cancer Centre Foundation and the patients we serve. 

Additional patient initiatives include:
  • The RENEW Cancer Wellness Program
  • Windsor Regional Hospital Breast Reconstruction Program
Patient care & comfort initiatives:
  • Equipment/instruments to support start-up of breast cancer reconstruction surgery program including areola tattooing reimbursement
  • Zephyr Patient Transport System
  • Lymphatic mapping procedure pack and massage table for lymphedema treatment
  • Sonic Surgical Instrument Cleaner used for surgical procedures
  • Crash cart, including defibrillator
  • Scandtronix Wellhoffer Beam Scan Stretcher mattresses

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