“It’s clear the priority was the reputation of the hospital.”
The Good Friday Appeal – which last year raised a record $23.37 million – also confirmed over the weekend that it intended to help fund the hospital’s art therapy program.
Opposition health spokeswoman Georgie Crozier welcomed Monday’s announcement.
“These positions have been at risk for weeks,” Crozier said. “It should never have gotten to this point.”
Marlyn Torres, whose son, Ali, is a patient at the Children’s Cancer Centre, said she was relieved the programs would continue.
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Ali was diagnosed with acute lymphoblastic leukaemia type B when he was five years old. Now nine, Ali relapsed last year, after 10 months being cancer-free.
Torres said art and music therapists had been every bit as crucial to her son’s mental health as doctors and nurses had been to his physical health.
“When he [relapsed], he said to me he didn’t want to live because it was just too much,” she said.
“The protocol for a relapse is actually quite aggressive, and this is where art therapy and music therapy actually helped us.
“My son has been through countless hours with music and art therapists to try and work through his trauma of needles, and we are now at a point where he comes in and he gives his finger [for needles] and he’s OK.”
Torres said she found out about the proposed cuts to the programs through the media on Friday. She hoped it would be a different story next time.
My Room Children’s Cancer Charitychair Maurizio Marcocci.
“I understand that it’s a public institution and there will changes and movements, [but] I think that fact that parents were not informed did affect that trust,” she said.
My Room Children’s Cancer Charity chair Maurizio Marcocci said he was thrilled by Monday’s announcement.
Marcocci helped start the charity more than 30 years ago after he was a patient at the Children’s Cancer Centre as a child.
“These roles make a big difference to the clinical, long-term journey of kids going through cancer – not just from a physical perspective, but a mental health perspective,” he said.
“Children’s cancer is the No.1 killer of kids after accidents. The people who support us want to know that the Children’s Cancer Centre is well resourced thanks to charities like My Room Children’s Cancer Charity and the Children’s Cancer Foundation. It’s a good result for all parties.”
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