Lynette Bisconti: For the patients to remember all of the people who cared for them, we come here very vulnerable and we have people who show us compassion.
Michelle Bregenzer (nurse): Here I think everybody has that deer in the headlights look when they first come. I really do and for us, just to approach and just to even touch them and just say, ‘we are here for you’,what is it that we can do? What can I do for you right now?
Man: This gives us an opportunity to hear from the people we serve, how we are doing. Believe me, you do so much more for us than we can ever do for you.
Cancer patient (woman): I am from Colorado and I was diagnosed with breast cancer four years ago, almost actually almost five, and the reason I am here is actually because my insurance changed at the beginning of the year and I now can come here because two years ago we actually looked into this and…So I am very excited and I actually have some hope – that’s why I’m here.
Caregiver (woman): What I like is they are compassionate. They come right up and there I see them hugging other patients and always coming up and grabbing us, “So how are you doing today?” So that’s really important.
Lynette Bisconti: Now you are a caregiver.
Caregiver (woman): Right.
Lynette Bisconti: So how are you supported here differently than you may have been supported elsewhere?
Caregiver (woman): Oh! You know, helping me with my food, my meals, I understand you can get massage here too. It’s just important for the caregiver to have a good spirit, you know and be and have their energy up as it is for the patient.
Lynette Bisconti: So what do you think of this in future…
Caregiver (woman): Oh it’s beautiful. It’s beautiful.
Lynette Bisconti: As opposed to elsewhere, yeah.
Caregiver (woman): Beautiful view, very tranquil, relaxing.
Lynette Bisconti: What I would do is I would take my chemo poll upstairs to the solarium and I’d sit out there in the sunshine and have chemo all day but this room is gorgeous.
Heidi Larder (nurse): I think that, you know once people come here, that’s when they say, “That’s where I want to be. I don’t want to be anywhere else”, but before that point I think that you are used to the regular ‘running the mill’ hospital where you are treated like a number and people don’t know your name, and I think that’s sad. You have to have hope to fight cancer. If you don’t have hope, I don’t see how you get out of bed every morning.