Going dry to support their patients

28 Jul 2020

6th Floor Dry July Team leader and Registered Nurse, Kate Gore said being in lockdown has made the team even more aware of how challenging life can be for patients diagnosed with cancer.

“We only have to make a small sacrifice by giving up alcohol for a month, whereas our patients make huge sacrifices daily, especially now. A lot of patients have long admissions and pre-COVID they could have visitors everyday but not during the pandemic,” Kate said.

The funds raised from last year’s campaign were used to purchase IPads. These have now been set up for the Virtual Visitor Program, which allows patients to connect with their friends and family via video conference.

This year the team hopes to put their funds towards items that can provide more holistic care to patients. “We try to make our patients feel as comfortable as possible. We would love to be able to provide better toiletries products, magazine subscriptions and even special tea and coffee to make them feel more at home. Our ward also needs some updates which would be a bonus!” 

A few members of the Dry July team have previously participated individually but this is the first year they’ve created a 6th Floor team.  Kate said it’s been great to have the camaraderie and support. “Team members have created posters as well as a QR code that people can scan to go directly to our donation page.”

The power of doing it as a group has also paid off. “Our initial goal was to raise $1,000. We hit that quite quickly, so we upped it to $3,000 and now we’re aiming for $5,000,” Kate said.

The team credit their patients as the inspiration to do Dry July. “Our patients are so wonderful, resilient and positive – we’re in awe of them!

“We get to witness the incredible strength displayed each and every day by people going through one of life’s toughest journeys. The money we raise will provide a bit of extra support to those who deserve it most!” Kate said.

Support 6th Floor Dry July team

Contact

St Vincent's Foundation
Ground floor
Rear, 55 Victoria Parade
Fitzroy, Victoria 3065