Greet The Day

Helping make the experience of cancer treatment better.

WE HAVE CHANGED THE EXPERIENCE OF CANCER TREATMENT

Helping people live better and feel their best through their cancer journey.

Greet The Day therapists provide hospital-based massage in infusion center and inpatient settings in multiple cancer centers, improving patients’ quality of life and clinical care experience by providing research-based integrative care for the seriously ill, at no cost to the patient.

Clinical research shows that massage therapy reduces anxiety and pain, can reduce neuropathy and fatigue, and promotes relaxation and feelings of well-being.

Comforting massage provided onsite at the cancer treatment center is a reminder that the body can find relief and comfort in spite of the anxiety, uncertainty and discomfort experienced during the routine course of treatment.

Hospital-based patient massage might be fairly standard today, but when we started our programs it wasn’t and our programs have helped made services of this type a reality in many cancer treatment centers.

We would welcome helping guide you in establishing an Infusion Center Massage or Inpatient program at a cancer center local to you.

Patient Testimonials

I would have oncology massage again tomorrow. On a daily basis if I could. It really helps.
Irvine Douglas Hospital, University of California, Irvine
This massage helped me tremendously. It helped with the anxiety and the discomfort in my legs. A huge thank you!
Irvine Douglas Hospital, University of California, Irvine
The massage has made a tremendous difference to my hospital stay and how my body is able to rest and recover. I would like to have massage anytime it's available here. It is so very helpful for me.
Long Beach Memorial Medical Center, Long Beach, CA
I wish all of my hospital stays could have been like this. Thank you so much for the massage, it was very calming and relaxing.
Orange Coast Memorial Medical Center, Fountain Valley, CA
I am 48 years old and have chronic back pain and was severely uncomfortable in the hospital bed and taking Norco. My back was hurting really bad. Then in came a massage therapist into my room named Sarah and helped my body feel better and more comfortable.
Orange Coast Memorial Medical Center, Fountain Valley, CA
This program is amazing for the patients to be able to less anxious while away from their home and families. It really helps a patient to relax if their diagnosis is not good. I believe this program is amazing. It’s like there’s hope and light at the end of a dark day.
Orange Coast Memorial Medical Center, Fountain Valley, CA
I asked the nurse for Atavan as a way to deal with anxiety and that helped in its own way, but pharmaceutical products tend to take you away from yourself. Ruth's massage technique had a way of opening secret little doors of peace and strength inside me and I would later call upon my memory of the infusion center massage when I was strapped to the radiation table.
JOHN TREATED AT ST. JOSEPH HOSPITAL OF ORANGE, CALIFORNIA
So nice to have someone enter the room to provide comfort and a welcomed diversion from all of the invasive procedures. Many thanks.
MOORES CANCER CENTER, SAN DIEGOHospital day 10 for Patient. Pain level before massage 5 - Pain level after massage 2

Greet The Day oncology-trained massage and skin care therapists work in medical centers nationwide, and are on staff in five southern California cancer treatment centers including three University of California cancer treatment centers.

This represents a remarkable change in cancer patient care in southern California where as recently as 2011 no massage was available for hospitalized patients.

BENEFITS OF HOSPITAL-BASED PATIENT MASSAGE

The role of massage in integrative care

 
  • Comfort-oriented massage helps patients feel better even when they are not feeling well.
  • Massage is recommended by the Joint Commission as an effective non-pharmacological intervention in the management of pain.
  • Comfort touch, not a procedural or clinical touch.
  • Comfort-oriented touch in the midst of a most challenging time.
  • Provides a reminder that the body can feel good even when it’s not feeling well.
  • Hospital-based massage is a non-invasive, non-clinical, non-procedural, comfort-oriented intervention which is often in short supply in a stressful clinical environment.
  • Eases pain and anxiety and may also help patients sleep, eat, mobilize and tolerate their hospital treatments better.
  • Improves the hospital-experience for patients and their family.
  • Helps patients feel like a whole person and not just diseased parts.
  • A high-touch intervention in a high-tech environment.
  • Supports medical staff in their patient care by being an intervention tool for them.

Greet The Day’s role in integrative care

Greet The Day has been a catalyst in helping massage become a norm in patient care, and GTD trained massage therapists and estheticians have helped effect a remarkable positive change in the delivery and experience of routine patient care.

When Greet The Day first started their Infusion Center Massage program there were no programs of that type being offered in California, and only one hospital in San Francisco offered an inpatient massage program for their patients.

A lot has changed since then and GTD trained therapists have started up massage programs in the following cancer treatment centers.

Infusion Center Massage
Gynecology Oncology Associates (2006)
Orange Coast Oncology Hematology (2007)
Compassionate Oncology Care (2007)
Newport Cancer Care (2007)
BreastLink (2008)
Orange Coast Memorial Medical Center (2008)
Long Beach Memorial Medical Center (2008)
UCI CHAO Family Cancer Center, University of California, Irvine (2009)
Pomona Valley Hospital Cancer Center (2011)
Moores Cancer Center, University of California, San Diego (2011)
Trinity Cancer Center, Minot, ND (2012)
Bon Secours, St. Francis Health Systems, Greenville, SC (2012)
USC Norris Cancer Day Hospital, Los Angeles (2015)
UCI Newport Infusion Center, Costa Mesa, CA (2015)
Ridley-Tree Cancer Center, Santa Barbara, CA (2015)
Dignity Health, Mercy Cancer Center, Sacramento, CA (2019)
Providence Cancer Center, Alaska, AK (2020)
UCLA Health Bowyer Oncology Center, Los Angeles, CA (2021)
Loma Linda University Cancer Center, Loma Linda, CA (2025)

Hospital-Based Inpatient Massage
Irvine Douglas Hospital, University of California, Irvine, CA (2011)
Orange Coast Memorial Medical Center, Fountain Valley, CA (2014)
Long Beach Memorial Medical Center, Long Beach, CA (2014)
Miller Children’s Hospital, Long Beach, CA (2014)
University of Southern California, Norris Cancer Center, Los Angeles, CA (2015)
Dignity Health, Mercy Cancer Center, Sacramento, CA (2025)

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Because of invaluable contributions by volunteers and donors, Greet The Day effected a significant and lasting change in the delivery of patient care.

 

We thank you for helping make that possible!

Hospital Program Development

In 2006 Johnnette du Rand, massage therapist/esthetician, and Mona Kirylo, esthetician, became the first Infusion Center Massage therapist volunteers.

The program was so well received and as more Orange County, CA, massage therapists and estheticians heard about the program, they asked to be included and Johnnette and Mona became the first program trainers and administrators. This too was a volunteer position for them.

In 2010 mission related income earned from professional education programs fund the first paid Infusion Center Massage program staff; Jacki Sellers, CMT, and Sarah Hoeven, CMT. Hospital-based massage is still largely unknown in California and most of the US, and during the startup years thousands of hours of volunteer time is contributed by professionally licensed, Greet The Day oncology massage trained therapists who believed that the experience of cancer treatment would be improved by including massage as an integrative care modality during patient care.

In 2012 a young adult cancer patient who had received massage in the UCI infusion center was admitted to the inpatient unit and he requested massage. That was the start of the inpatient massage program.

Later that year a Hoag Cancer Center LCSW referred the Greener Pastures Charitable Foundation to Greet The Day for program funding support.

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Hospital Program Funding

In 2012 Greener Pastures Charitable Foundation provides seed funding for the UCI adult inpatient massage pilot program. Greet The Day donors continue to provide truly invaluable support for infusion center massage programs offered at five Orange County and two Los Angeles treatment centers.

The Tobin Family support Greet The Day for many years and in 2013, 2014 and 2015 were the primary sponsors for the adult inpatient massage programs offered at UCI, LBMMC and OCMMC.

In 2014 UCI asks Greet The Day to provide two 8-hour Nurse Delivered Massage programs for their night shift oncology unit nursing staff. Staff and patient feedback is glowing.

In 2014 and 2015 the Miller Family provided funding for pediatric inpatient massage therapist training provided by Healwell at Miller’s Children Hospital at LBMMC. Ms Miller, LE, has been volunteering infusion center massage at City of Hope, Duarte, CA, since 2010, and believes in the value thereof in the patient experience of care.

Since program inception Greet The Day consistently collects and shares patient program feedback and RN surveys with participating cancer centers, and asks hospitals to pony up and fund their own patient massage programs.

UCI funded their Greet The Day inpatient oncology massage program from 2016 to November 2021. During this period Greet the Day provided 2-hour, 4-hour and 8-hour integrative care massage training programs for UCI RN’s. The inpatient massage program was discontinued 18-months after the Susan Samueli Integrative Heath Institute partnered with UCI so that SSIHI could lead the integrative care initiative forward.

USC has funded their inpatient massage program since 2012, increasing program hours twice since 2021. Greet The Day massage therapists and estheticians have volunteered infusion center massage at USC since 2008, and continue to do so.

UCLA has funded 9-hours per week of infusion center massage since 2021. Starting that same year Greet The Day has partnered with UCLA to provide Integrative care comfort-touch training for their RN/CLN team, these programs are provided three to four times per year.

In 2023 City of Hope comes to Orange County, CA, and in 2024 employed a full time massage therapist with the goal of employing a team of massage therapists at their cancer treatment centers. Leading the pathway forward, thank you!

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Being the best part of someone’s day is part of our every day.