Cancer sufferers of the Tweed will have immediate access to information about the disease following the official launch of the Cancer Council Information Centre at Tweed Heads Hospital this week.
The centre, a free service, centrally located at the front of the Hospital foyer, will be open four days a week and manned by local volunteers many of whom have been through their own cancer journey either as a patient or relative. The centre has been set up by the Tweed Byron Community Cancer Network in conjunction with Cancer Council of NSW and the Tweed Hospital and is the 14th such centre in NSW.
Volunteer John Fraser said the centre will open Monday, Tuesday, Thursday and Friday from 10am-12.30pm and 12.30pm -3pm each day.
“It’s very confidential, the staff are trained not to reveal, under any circumstances, contents of conversations,” he said.
“But we’re there to mainly give information and a listening ear. There are plenty of people talking (when you’re diagnosed with cancer) we’re the listeners.”
Mr Fraser said the staff were volunteers but had received training before taking on the job. He said more volunteers were needed, particularly males.