Changes Afoot in the Wellington Cancer Centre

Linear 1, one of the work horses of the Radiation Therapy Treatment Unit in the Wellington Cancer Centre is about to be replaced by a new linear accelerator machine which is en route to Wellington from the United States. Whilst the old machine is removed and the new one installed it will be business as usual, well, more-or-less as usual, for patients.

For five to six weeks from Friday 7 May, the radiation therapy machine Linear 2 will be operating longer hours, much longer hours, from 7.30 am to 9 pm (last patient appointment will be around 8.30 pm), basically it will be doing the work of both Linear 1 and 2. This strategy will minimise delays for patients while Linear 1 is replaced. By mid-June the new machine will be operating, and the two machines will be in use together for 8 weeks. Then Linear 2 will be upgraded for two weeks, so the new machine, the new Linear 1 will have extended hours to make up for it.

So things should be back to normal by September, except the new machine will be a big improvement on the old one - all several millions dollars of it! However, in the meantime, during May and early June the Radiation Therapy staff will be attempting to bring the 'walking well' patients in the evening as some patients, such as those requiring chemotherapy, medical intervention, or whose treatment is technically complex, will need to be treated within the normal work hours.

Inevitably this will impact to some extent on the Volunteer Driving Service and Jennifer de Ridder, the Charge Therapist, does apologise for any inconvenience that it will cause. The Radiation Therapists will be working shifts to ensure that the service is maintained with the minimal impact on patients. A small team of Volunteers has most generously agreed to act as hosts in the Wellington Cancer Centre during the evening, Monday to Friday 6 pm - 8.30 pm, to support the Radiation Therapists and to assist the patients and their family or support people during this unusual spell.

After just a week in action each of the five Volunteer Hosts has spoken with enthusiasm about the niche that they are able to fill. The appreciation of radiation therapy patients at being met at the door after six o'clock and escorted through the uncannily quiet waiting areas and corridors of a normally bustling Cancer Centre has been most heartening. It is yet another example of the enormous goodwill that there is in the volunteer team that the Society was able to fill the Charge Radiation Therapist's unusual request.

Volunteers - the agents of change.