‘In Kilkenny, no one faces cancer alone’ - Cois Nore House cancer support centre officially opened
The facility will provide an expanded range of community cancer support services in a newly completed building
After years of preparation and a marathon community fundraising drive, cancer support services in Kilkenny received a momentous boost with the official opening of Cois Nore House on Thursday morning.
Centre staff, current service users, cancer survivors, politicians and local supporters gathered at the new state of the art facility on the Waterford Road to mark the occasion where Minister for Health, Dr Jennifer Carroll MacNeill TD, was in attendance to cut the ribbon usher in a new era for local cancer support.
The expanded centre will quadruple Cois Nore’s capacity and includes dedicated spaces for children and families, men and women’s group rooms and a wellness studio to aid the organisation in providing the free psycho-social services demonstrated to improve cancer outcomes.
The board had set a goal to reach €2 million from a capital funding drive three years ago with a massive €1.4 million of this raised through community fundraising while €250,000 was saved from reduced building costs and professional fees and materials supplied for free or at reduced costs.
After attendees had been entertained by the talents of the Cois Nore choir, made up entirely of singers connected with the centre, Dr Bill Cuddihy, outgoing Chairman of Cois Nore, thanked all who supported the project and outlined the impact that the centre will have for those who need it.
“To our donors and supporters all across the county, business and commercial sectors, sports clubs, community groups, local authorities and individuals, you have turned goodwill into bricks, hope into rooms and compassion into a home,” he said.
“Your belief in Cois Nore has changed the landscape of cancer support in Kilkenny forever. Cois Nore House is more than a building, it is a promise that in Kilkenny, no one faces cancer alone.”
“It’s a testament to what happens when communities act with courage and it’s proof that healing takes more than medicine; it takes people. Ní neart go cur le cheile, there’s strength in unity and today standing outside this beautiful new centre, you can feel that strength all around you.”
“Thank you for making this possible and thank you for making this home possible. Thank you for ensuring that every person in Kilkenny on their hardest days and their hopeful ones will find shelter in one another,” he concluded.
The ceremony included words from Minister Carroll MacNeill and a particularly moving speech from cancer survivor and Cois Nore service user Jackie Cullen on the positive impacts that can be gained from community support despite the life-changing challenges brought on by a cancer diagnosis.
After this, the Minister and Ms Cullen cut the ribbon together to open the centre and as Dr Cuddihy earlier said, change the landscape of cancer support in Kilkenny.
Speaking to the media after the event, Minister Carroll MacNeill and government colleagues outlined the key role that Cois Nore House will play in the years to come.
“More than anything else, Jackie Cullen, who spoke so beautifully here today, said this place feels like a hug,” the Minister described.
“It feels like a hug by people who have understood the journey before, who have supported different people at different stages of understanding cancer care.”
“There’s a community here to support anybody who needs or wants that extra help during a cancer journey,” she added.
Fianna Fáil TD for Carlow/Kilkenny, Jennifer Murnane O’Connor, who works closely with Minister Carroll MacNeill in her role as Minister of State at the Department of Health, echoed these sentiments and recalled her own family’s use of local cancer services.
“It’s so important to have these services in our community and I always say there’s not a family that isn’t affected by cancer,” she said.
“I lost my brother to cancer. He used the Éist centre in Carlow which is another absolutely excellent facility.”
“So this is about the community coming together with the HSE, with the minister and with myself to work together to make sure that we deliver in the community the services that are here.”
Deputy Catherine Callaghan (FG) concluded by describing the positive feeling of the occasion and a chance encounter that sums up how you never know who could be experiencing a cancer journey at any given time.
“This has been a really joyous occasion today, and what actually struck me was that I met a friend of mine that I didn’t realise was going through cancer.”
“His wife said to me that even though they’re in the middle of cancer, they’re really looking forward to getting to the stage where they can come here, and that is the key piece.”
“In Ireland we’re really good at community and even to get this building to the stage that it’s in now, it was a community effort.”
Article funded by the Local Democracy Reporting Scheme