Greet The Day was the idea of Scott Duncan of Spa Gregorie’s Day Spa in Newport Beach, California. Inspired by a program offered by Dr. Stephen M. Krant from SK Clinic in La Jolla, Scott had a desire to start an outreach organization to help people within the cancer community.
Team support from Spa Gregorie’s therapists, Dr. James Waisman, Christine “Tinka” Hrountas MD, Dr. John Link from Breastlink, and Nandini Narayanan Velayudhan LCSW from Orange Coast Memorial Breast Center, led to the creation of Greet The Day. The first Greet The Day program was offered at Spa Gregorie’s in 2003 with the invaluable support of spa owners Angela and Chuck Cortright.
The success, strength and outreach of the program grew and in 2005 Greet The Day became a 501(c)3 nonprofit organization with Scott Duncan, Johnnette du Rand Kelly, Donna Thompson, and Dr. “Tinka” as the founding board of directors. Dr. Hrountas and du Rand Kelly led Greet The Day in a direction to bridge the gap between patient need and therapist skills. They worked with others in the oncology field to develop patient-service programs and professional training for therapists to be able to work with this medically sensitive clientele.
In addition to the inaugural spa based program introduced in 2003, Greet The Day programs have grown to include professional education (2005), infusion center massage (2006), adult inpatient massage (2010), integrative care programs such as yoga and meditation (2012), and young adult and pediatric in- and outpatient massage (2014).
Greet The Day continues to have a strong tradition of volunteer and community support. Helping people affected by cancer live better, and feel their best, throughout their cancer journey, the Greet The Day team makes a significant contribution to integrative oncology care.