As you may know, we have allocated our next Mobile Chemotherapy Unit (MCU) to East Essex, which will be operated by the team at Colchester Hospital University NHS Foundation Trust. What you won’t know at this stage however, is that the Unit has been named ‘Maureen’, in memory of Maureen Dore, a nurse and long-term supporter of the Charity, who sadly passed away in 2010.
And so we’re touched that, today, Tuesday the 19th July 2016, in a special ceremony at Colchester General Hospital, Maureen’s sister, Liz Burton, will cut the ribbon for us, at the official launch of the Unit.
Christine Mills MBE, Founder and Trustee of Hope for Tomorrow, said: “I’m delighted to name this MCU after Maureen Dore. She was a wonderful supporter of the Charity.
When we started in 2006, we set up a small project team that would meet to discuss how to design the world’s first Mobile Chemotherapy Unit. The team consisted of medical staff, pharmacy, myself and Maureen Dore, who was a patient representative, and together we launched the world’s first Mobile Chemotherapy Unit in Gloucestershire in 2007. Maureen supported the project for many years until she died, when she kindly left a legacy in her will for the Charity.”
Maureen, nee McAree, attended the Girls’ High School in Colchester. She then started her Student Nurse training at the Essex County Hospital Colchester in September 1957, and in 1960, she went on to become Staff Nurse at the same hospital. Thereafter she trained and worked in many different aspects of nursing.
Chairman of Colchester Hospital University NHS Foundation Trust, David White, said: “This is a fantastic new way of delivering chemotherapy to our patients in north east Essex. The Mobile Chemotherapy Unit will deliver treatment to people with a cancer diagnosis closer to home rather than those people having to come into hospital.
We are very excited about this innovative way of delivering anti-cancer treatment and proud that the legacy of Maureen will live on through the Unit.”
The Units cost Hope for Tomorrow £260,000 to build and launch, along with the provision of at least one Nurses Support Vehicle (NSV), which allows the nursing team to travel to and from the daily treatment location of the Unit, along with any additional supplies or equipment that’s needed, and the East Essex Mobile Chemotherapy Unit is the eleventh Unit to be put into operation.
The Unit will visit Tiptree, Clacton, Halstead and Stanway, with further locations to be added as the service develops. Around 10 to 15 patients a day will benefit from the new mobile service.
The East Essex Unit is the fifth MCU funded by The Mark Benevolent Fund (together with Units in Lincolnshire, North Wiltshire, Cornwall and West Suffolk).
Colchester Hospitals Charity (CoHoC) has been awarded funds by the Colchester Catalyst Charity to buy important equipment for the MCU.
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