Volume 2
WHAT’Snew
Number 8
June 3, 2013
Pennsylvania Hospital
T h e G i f t o f Surviving Cancer and Giving Back She’s a striking blond. Attractive, warm, funny, caring, and always smiling. He’s also a striking blond – and warm and caring and funny — and seems to always be smiling as well.
`` Volunteeer Ginny Fineberg and her dog, Brealey, visiting with a patient at JKCC.
“She knows what it feels like to literally sit in their place. She was there and battled back cancer not once but twice.”
Inside PAH: The Year in Review..........2 Annual UPHS Nursing Clinical Excellence Awards....................3 PAH Celebrates Turning 262.....3 The Gift of Surviving Cancer & Giving Back continued..........4 William H. Lipshutz, MD, Named Outstanding Volunteer Clinical Teacher by American College of Physicians................5
“She” is Ginny Fineberg, a youthful looking 64 year old cancer survivor. And “he” is her self-proclaimed “Momma’s Boy” Brealey — an eight year old golden retriever and certified therapy dog who provides comfort and affection to cancer patients, retirement and nursing home residents, school children with learning disabilities and recovering trauma victims. Oh yes, and he’s also more than willing to perform tricks for yummy treats. It’s a Monday in the chemotherapy suite in the Joan Karnell Cancer Center at PAH and Ginny and Brealey have made their weekly trek from Cape May Courthouse, NJ, to visit the unit. Together their presence seems to brighten up the atmosphere and lighten everyone’s mood — patients and staff alike. Ginny offers her hand to a patient as a nurse gently prods for a vein to put in her line for chemo. She tells the patient, Dora, to hold tight and squeeze hard, in attempt to distract her from the pain and discomfort. Brealey stands by to offer support as well, tail wagging. As the nurse continues to put in Dora’s line, Ginny doles out helpful tips on stylish head scarves. She then strikes up an additional conversation with a head and neck cancer patient who was sitting quietly alone, across the way. She asks him questions and offers him nutrition tips suggesting foods that go easy on throats ravaged by radiation treatments. Brealey, meanwhile, joyfully goes from patient to patient offering
his head (prime real estate for petting and ear rubs), tail ever-wagging. Other patients and visitors in the unit can’t help but laugh when they see Brealey who is wearing a navy blue Joan Karnell Cancer Center T-shirt modified to fit his four-legged frame and an official PAH ID badge. “Did you have radiation also or just chemo?” Dora asks Ginny. “Oh yes, both” she replies. She knows what it feels like to literally sit in their place. She was there and battled back cancer not once but twice. And she remembers how it was a fellow patient who helped her get through a particularly rough time. Twelve years ago, Ginny was diagnosed with inflammatory breast cancer, a rare but very aggressive type of breast cancer that metastasized. There was no time to waste. Her surgeon recommended chemotherapy immediately before surgery. That was on a Monday. Three days later she was undergoing her first chemo treatment at the JKCC. After a breakdown one day during her treatment when Ginny was overwhelmed by anxiety, fear and pain, it was a fellow cancer patient who was able to console, comfort and give Ginny the advice and encouragement she so desperately needed. That was the first time she thought: I really should give back in some way.
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What’s Happening.....................6 Broad Street Run.......................6
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