Minister hails work of Mayo Cancer Support
Minister for Health Jennifer Carroll MacNeill with members of the Rocks ‘n’ Roses Choir for Cancer Survivors during her visit to Mayo Cancer Support Association. Picture: Alison Laredo
The homely and inviting Rock Rose House in Castlebar welcomed a special guest last Monday, November 17th, when Minister for Health Jennifer Carroll MacNeill, made the headquarters of Mayo Cancer Support her final stop on a tour of health facilities in Mayo.
The minister remarked on the lovely sense of peace and welcome she felt upon entering the building, which is located across from Mayo University Hospital and is lovingly designed to provide a home from home for cancer patients and their families.
Such was the relaxing effect that as soon as the Rocks ‘n’ Roses choir launched into their welcoming song for the minister, she herself joined the choir, joyously led by Louise Rodgers to sing out the comforting words and melody of “I’ll give you a daisy”, which went on for verse after verse as the heavy entourage of health department personnel alongside a bevvy of local public representatives and Oireachtas members tucked into yet another round of generous refreshments.
It wasn’t all just sunshine and light though as Mayo Cancer Support CEO Orla Gillespie told the packed gathering how appreciative the service is of recent funding announcements rubber-stamped by the minister, that are set to make an invaluable contribution to operational costs.
Speaking to the , Ms Gillespie described the Minister's visit as "the icing on the cake for a really significant few years for our organisation in achieving key objectives".
"We welcome in particular the minister’s praise around the alliance of community cancer support centres.
“The minister’s recent commitment to annual funding towards the operational costs of community cancer support centres such as Rock Rose House has made a huge difference and has taken us from having to fundraise 90% of our annual costs down to 50%. It is also an annual funding commitment whereas previously it was a one-off support under former Health Minister Stephen Donnelly, who had advised us not to come back again looking for more.”
Undeterred, Rock Rose House appealed for further funding, going on to achieve this latest commitment of annual monies.
“This is agreed and written in stone now going forward as an allocation to each centre. It just means so much and takes such a lot of pressure off our day-to-day service operations, so today was a fantastic opportunity to thank the minister and we look forward to continuing working with her and the Department of Health to recognise us as an important part of the pathway for cancer patients in Mayo.”
Even in the absence of government funding, Rock Rose House has for many years been helping Mayo cancer patients through their own fundraising efforts.
“We have already been working in tandem with health services and taking some of the pressure off, but it was good to be able to highlight to the minister how difficult it is to provide our services without resources. For example, transport to treatments is a really distressing issue and more often than not, we cannot signpost clients to a suitable service, because while there are some, their use and availability is highly governed.”
Not missing any opportunity, during the visit Ms Gillespie asked Minister Carroll MacNeill if there was anything she could do to step up and help fill this particular gap for cancer patients and was rewarded when the minister told her she recognised it was an issue, going on to reveal that some research and assessments are currently in hand with a view to addressing the transport offering.
Ms Gillespie additionally used the visit to showcase to the minister the centre’s new Strategic Development Plan for 2025-2029, which sets out the vision for organisation as it cements its permanency in the cancer support services offering in the county.
As to Minister Carroll MacNeill’s comments on the sense of peace and homeliness at Rock Rose House, Ms Gillespie stated: “Part of our remit is that people don’t feel they are going into another clinical, medical space when they come here. We make a real effort to cultivate a safe space and it is no accident that the front room is just like a cosy sitting room.”
Allowing no room for complacency however, she insists that fundraising all the way will be an ongoing feature of Mayo Cancer Support, as it has big plans to grow and increase its offering for an incremental clientele requiring its services.
“We can make as many plans as we like but cannot implement anything without funding," said Ms Gillespie. "We are still heavily dependent on funding to implement our five-year plan, so yes, we will be continuing our fundraising efforts. Our recent abseiling event in Croke Park proved phenomenally successful and there is more to come. We have big plans and have already had architects look at our existing site here on St Patrick’s Avenue to see what can be done.
"We are very emotionally attached to Rock House House and its strategic location, right across from Mayo University Hospital, and we have very strong footfall from that. People often come across the road here straight away when they get bad news, so we want to expand our footprint to be able to offer even more support services to cancer patients into the future.”
