PEOPLE affected by cancer will be able to talk to a friendly face about their fears and get advice at libraries across Renfrewshire for the first time after two years.
The free Cancer Information and Support Service has now fully restarted after Covid restrictions were eased.
The advice sessions, created by a partnership between the Macmillan Cancer Support charity and OneRen, are being held in four local libraries.
The drop-in sessions are run by experienced and specially-trained Macmillan volunteers, who can help people who have been diagnosed with cancer and their family and friends.
They are given information on different forms of cancer and their treatments with advice on the wide range of resources on offer from Macmillan Cancer Support.
The service also gives people the chance to simply sit and chat in privacy in a comfortable and welcoming environment.
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Joyce Higgins, digital and library development manager at OneRen said: “As well as our volunteers being very well trained, they are also a friendly face and very empathetic to the problems and issues people face when they are affected by cancer.
“We’ll also give people the opportunity to ask the questions or talk about the concerns that they perhaps didn’t ask about when they were first told they had cancer.
“Our service provides a wide range of information booklets we can give people who come to us and we can also request specific booklets if we do not already have them in stock.”
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Lorna Mullen, OneRen’s Macmillan health and wellbeing support officer added: “Many times we’ve seen people come to us feeling a bit lost and needing to talk.
“But we’re here to listen and give people the chance to speak to someone about having to face up to cancer and what lies ahead for them in terms of their treatment.
“People tell us that they find it easier to talk to us about the fears they don’t want to burden their families with and the advice we give about getting financial help also eases their mind.”
The Cancer Information and Support Service sessions are being held at:
- Erskine Library, every Tuesday between 2pm and 4pm
- Ferguslie Library, on Wednesdays between 10am and noon
- Renfrew Library, on Thursdays between 2pm and 4pm
- Johnstone Library, on Fridays between 2pm and 4pm
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As Covid restrictions ease, more resources and services will be available at the sessions, which began in 2013 and was the first such service in the country at the time.
The OneRen Cancer Information and Support Service are also looking to expand the initiative and for people to train as a Macmillan volunteer.
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