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• Social Vision > Children & Young Adults > Adult Oncology > Vista > Department of Corrections > Adventure Learning

The Need in Adult Oncology

The Dances With Wood program is beneficial to oncology patients of all ages. For patients undergoing cancer treatment, the journey can be long and challenging. Short-and long-term side effects can cause pain, diarrhea, constipation, mouth sores, hair loss, nausea and vomiting, as well as blood-related side effects. Patients also face psychological challenges in the form of fear, depression, self-doubt and worry, and experience high levels of stress and emotional turmoil that diminish the body’s ability to heal itself.

When the body undergoes an extended period of duress, it is important to care for the spirit and the forces of “will” that are important to the healing process. Medicinal treatment is enhanced when patients maintain a positive attitude and a good level of self-esteem. The Dances With Wood program is designed to provide a creative experience that acts as a form of medicine to help heal the spirit and strengthen the patient’s will to live.

Similar to the pediatric and adolescent program, the Dances With Wood program provides adult oncology patients with the opportunity to experience the transforming power of their own imagination and creativity through woodworking projects and art. Building with wood provides patients with a uniquely creative experience that inspires an inner sense of health, hope and well-being. The Dances With Wood program can be undertaken while a patient is sitting or lying in a hospital bed as well as in an outpatient clinic.

Current Use

In March 2008, a Dances With Wood program serving adult oncology patients was implemented at the Hospital of Saint Raphael in New Haven, Connecticut. The program is currently operating seven days a week on the inpatient floor and five days a week in the outpatient clinic treatment area. The program is free to patients and is administered by volunteers and nursing staff.

Find out what patients and healthcare providers are saying about the Dances With Wood program in adult oncology.

• Letter from Former Cancer Patient
• Healing Through Woodworking
• Saint Raphaels - Looking Forward Program
• Saint Raphaels - Support for Dances With Wood Program

Your Support Is Needed

We need your help to maintain and further develop existing Dances With Wood programs and to expand program services to more hospitals and treatment centers!
Help us bring this program to other seriously ill patients who may benefit from creative expression through the art of woodworking.

We are currently seeking sponsor support to:
Maintain existing program services for inpatient adult oncology patients;
Maintain existing program services for adult oncology patients being treated in outpatient clinic areas;
Expand program services to more hospitals and treatment centers;
Develop a new “hopes and dreams” program that helps patients identify positive areas of focus in their lives;
Develop new programs to provide relaxation and stress reduction;
Develop new imagery programs that will stimulate and strengthen the immune system.

Sponsor an adult oncology program $50 to $50,000

Sponsor a hospital near you $50 to $50,000

Sponsor an existing program $50 to $10,000

Sponsor a program for women with breast cancer $50 to $50,000

Or choose from one of the following giving levels, allowing us to put
your generous donation to work where it is needed most:

By supporting the Dances With Wood program for adult oncology patients, you will help patients care for their inner spirit through creative expression, as they journey towards health and healing.

For more information please contact:

Robert W. H. Wilkins (“Woody”)
Executive Director and Founder
Dances With Wood
860-669-5221
e-mail: woody@danceswithwood.org

Online Giving

Your can donate online by clicking the PayPal button on
the right of the screen. Use your credit or debit card with
the secure services of PayPal.

Mail a Donation

If you wish to make a donation by mail, please make your check out to Rite of Passage Cancer Project, and write “Dances with Wood” on the memo line.

Please mail your donation to
Dances With Wood
24 West Main St., Suite 416
Clinton, CT 06413

For more information, please contact
Woody Wilkins
Program Director/Founder
woody@danceswithwood.org
or call 860-669-5221