New twist on an old relationship

Friends of Florence program director Dan Clements waits at the entrance of Peace Harbor Hospital. Clements is one of many drivers for the program, which transports Florence cancer patients, free of charge, to and from Eugene and Springfield for radiation treatments.

Next Friday, Aug. 10, the Friends of Florence van will be on a “reverse” mission. Instead of only taking patients to the Willamette Valley Cancer Institute and Research Center (WVCI) in Eugene for radiation treatments, it will also transport physicians and staff to Relay For Life of Florence. It’s a new twist on an old relationship.

“We asked if the van could take staff and physicians to the Relay,” said Nikki Thaut, WVCI’s operational excellence administrator, who added that the center’s professional team appreciates the service provided by the volunteer-based vans.

The group has close ties to the Florence community and also operates a local clinic to provide chemotherapy.

“Some of our physicians travel once a week to Florence for patient consultation and chemo treatments,” said Thaut.

Friends of Florence volunteers are very familiar with WVCI staff. By latest count, in 27 years of operation, five days a week, the Florence vans have traveled 1.3 million miles and transported 29,500 patients to their cancer treatments.

For the complete article see the 08-04-2012 issue.

Click here to purchase an electronic version of the 08-04-2012 paper.

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