Dry July offering a room with a view

With the support of the Dry July Foundation The Alfred has installed a new sky ceiling to help patients feel at ease while undergoing radiotherapy treatment. By offering this room with a view we hope to be able to improve the overall experience a person has when being treated for cancer.

The caring and committed team of doctors, nurses and specialists working within our cancer services are continually looking at ways to improve their patients’ experience. The implementation of the sky ceiling panels above the radiotherapy machine will help do that. Patients could be undergoing treatment for up to 40 minutes, now they can look up and concentrate on the sky, the shapes of the clouds or the colours in the trees. It will give them something else to focus on, a distraction. Changes like this in healthcare settings have been proven to lower blood pressure, speed up recovery times and reduce overall stress and anxiety.

The project is possible because of a generous donation from the Dry July Foundation. We are very excited to be part of Dry July again in 2019. Dry July raises funds to improve the lives of adults living with cancer through an online social community and health awareness initiative that encourages people to get their family, friends and work colleagues to sponsor them to give up booze for the month of July.

We are so grateful to everyone who supported Dry July and The Alfred in making the lives of those affected by cancer a little better and a little brighter. The new sky ceiling may be a small change in a small room but it provides a window to a much bigger and kinder world.