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Flinders Foundation

77 Supporters

Raised

$26,600.34

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Working together to prevent, cure and care.

That simple sentence sums up Flinders Foundation’s purpose – to work together with individuals and organisations in the community to support health and medical research and improve patient care across the Flinders medical precinct.

Together, we raise vital funds to support the leading clinicians and researchers across Flinders Medical Centre and Flinders University to make medical discoveries and improve the care available to patients and their families – including those affected by cancer.

Each year, Flinders Medical Centre provides around 45,000 appointments for people with cancer and more than 2,500 South Australians are diagnosed with the disease

By working together with organisations such as the Dry July Foundation, and generous individuals and fundraisers in our community, patients and their families can continue to receive the best treatment, care and support.

The focal point of integrated cancer care at Flinders is the Flinders Centre for Innovation in Cancer. The $30 million Flinders Centre for Innovation in Cancer opened its doors in 2012, thanks to the support of the community and generous grants and donations.

The world-class centre combines compassionate care, world-leading research and comprehensive support programs for people living with cancer, all under the same roof.

In February 2020, Flinders Foundation worked in partnership with Dry July to open a new Cancer Wellness Centre on the ground floor of the Flinders Centre for Innovation in Cancer. The Cancer Wellness Centre offers people with cancer, and their families and carers, holistic support that contributes to a healthier life, so they can thrive, during and after cancer.

The Cancer Wellness Centre provides a range of services to help address many of the unmet needs of patients and their families – many of which can be lifelong.

This extra support focuses on the range of physical, educational, emotional and practical impacts of cancer. Services include nutrition education sessions with a dietitian, physiotherapy, Arts in Health activities such as meditation, relaxation, creative writing and art therapy, as well as social work information sessions about finance, stress management, grief, loss and survivorship.

By signing up for Dry July and raising funds for Flinders Foundation, you will support the ongoing delivery of these life-changing services and programs. Thank you for supporting Flinders Foundation to prevent, cure and care.

Latest Updates

Flinders Cancer Wellness Centre open thanks to Dry July

Thanks to Dry July participants and the generosity of the Dry July Foundation, patients and their families affected by cancer are now receiving additional support with a new Cancer Wellness Centre opened at Flinders in February 2020.

The new centre is the focal point of a new cancer wellness program, designed to ease the burden of cancer and address many of the unmet needs of patients and their families during and after cancer treatment – many of which can be lifelong.

This extra support focuses on a range of physical, educational, emotional and practical impacts which cancer can often have, including fatigue, anxiety, dietary, financial and employment concerns, among others. The centre will also be a valuable conduit in connecting patients and carers with support groups and other services in the community.

It's only thanks to the generosity of organisations and fundraisers in the community - like Dry July - that this was made possible. Thank you!

Funds raised by 2019 Dry July participants provided vital funding for Arts in Health programs in the centre, including art and music therapy, and activities which promote wellness including meditation.

Clinical Director for Cancer Services Professor Chris Karapetis was grateful for the role Dry July participants and the Dry July Foundation have played in establishing this centre.

“For many, being diagnosed with cancer is the most traumatic life event they will experience. They can be overwhelmed with information, and at the same time often don’t know where to turn to for help in addressing the ‘knock-on’ effects of cancer,” Professor Karapetis said.

“In having a new and unique space like the Wellness Centre, we’ll be able to extend support beyond treating just cancer itself, and provide patients and their families with holistic support that encompasses all aspects that contribute to a healthier life so they can really thrive, during and after cancer.”

Thank you so much for participating in Dry July, and supporting people affected by cancer. Your efforts make an incredible impact.

Flinders Foundation receives an additional grant from the Dry July Foundation

We're pleased to announce that Flinders Foundation has received an additional grant from the Dry July Foundation October grant round.

This grant will enable funding for a Cancer Wellness Exercise and Physical Activity Service: bringing together physiotherapy and exercise physiology expertise, helping to optimise wellness for cancer patients, leading to improved quality of life and outcomes for cancer patients.

Dry July Foundation supports Cancer Wellness Program at Flinders Centre for Innovation in Cancer

Funds from the Dry July 2019 campaign will enable the Dry July Foundation to introduce therapy-based and therapeutic art activities into the cancer wellness program via the Cancer Wellness Centre which is currently being developed and is due to open mid-October 2019. 

Arts in Health at Flinders Medical Centre (FMC) was introduced at FMC in 1996. The program currently works across all clinical areas of the hospital and currently supports in-patients in the oncology ward. These services will be adapted to deliver an Arts in Health program through the cancer wellness centre at Flinders Centre for Innovation in Cancer. 

For a cancer patient, an engagement with a supported visual at activity can be used to: 

- improve mood and mobility

- provide an avenue for emotional or psychological expression

- create alternative methods of non-verbal communication for thoughts and feelings that might otherwise be difficult to communicate about

- be a relaxing distraction from the imperatives of clinical treatment

- provide opportunities for social and community engagement in supportive environments

- create opportunities to share something joyful with families and friends

- offer the chance to learn new skills and techniques to support recovery

- provide information and tools to promote physical wellness through education

- support gentle exercise regimes with physical activities, such as felting


Image: Illustration of section of the new Cancer Wellness Centre under construction at the Flinders Centre for Innovation in Cancer

Dry July activity at Flinders Foundation

The Foundation Cafe at Flinders Foundation are on board and taking part in Dry July to raise funds towards further development of the Cancer Wellness Centre. Next week they will be getting creative in the kitchen and selling hand baked goodies with all proceeds going to the Flinders Foundation Dry July campaign.

Last week saw Flinders Foundation featured on TEN News Adelaide in a Dry July promotion. If you would like to see the news piece you can watch it here

It's not too late to sign up for Dry July and raise funds for this wonderful organisation. If you would like to take part and help Flinders Foundation reach their goal, please click HERE 

Full steam ahead at Flinders…

Thanks to the incredible fundraising of Dry July participants and support of Dry July Foundation, building will get underway in the coming months on a new cancer wellness centre at Flinders to better support patients and their families affected by cancer.

The centre will feature two multi-purpose consulting rooms to accommodate dietitians, psychologists, financial counsellors, exercise physiologists and other services to better support the physical, psychological, emotional and practical needs of patients which aren’t often easily managed in the cancer clinic.

Cancer patients and their families attend about 30,000 appointments at Flinders each year. During these appointments they can be confronted with the best of news, or the worst of news. Private areas in the wellness centre will give them and their families a quiet space to digest information they have just received.

The centre’s lounge will also provide comfortable areas for patients to sit and relax before and after treatment and appointments. While an information library will help connect the 2500 patients diagnosed with cancer at Flinders each year with services and support to help them overcome the effects of cancer and meet their individual needs. 

We’re so thrilled the cancer wellness centre will be open from October… it simply wouldn’t have been possible without the Dry July Foundation and the thousands of people who pledge to ‘go dry’ in July! Thank you!

Excitingly, all funds raised this July will be used to support wellness services in the centre to ensure people with cancer can live well during, and after, cancer treatment.