Lakeshore Hospital’s Dragon Boat Race raises funds for oncology clinic’s massage therapy program

With paddles splashing the Lachine Canal with adrenaline-pumping force, oncologists brought their A game – for a great cause – at the annual Lakeshore General Hospital Foundation’s Dragon Boat Race on Saturday.

The foundation is raising funds for the hospital’s oncology clinic, which sees more than 5,000 treatments annually.

The 3rd annual event raised over $66,000 — the money raised this year will help purchase state-of-the-art equipment and fund a massage therapy program for patients.

“It’s really humbling because we come together to really participate in this event, and then everything we do here is really for our patients,” said participant Melodie Koker.

The idea for the Dragon Boat Race came from the hospital’s oncologists themselves, said the foundation’s managing director, because of the team building and community spirit aspects of the sport.

“Everybody is super happy to be participating,” said Nathalie Kamel. “We’ve got our ER doc who’s here supporting our oncology team, and I think everybody’s just really proud to come together. And it’s nice for each department to see that they’re getting support from other departments.

“We can’t operate in silos. We have to operate as a team.”

Last year, the West Island hospital raised more than $100,000. They hope to match that milestone this year.

Kamel says the massage therapy program they hope to upgrade aims at helping alleviate any stress or uneasiness for patients as they navigate through their most difficult times.

“Anybody who’s had a diagnosis of cancer or anybody who knows anybody who has gone through treatment, it is extremely difficult,” she said. “It is very emotional and anything that we can do to provide an easier way or a better environment.”

Saturday’s race had six boats competing, with families and staff all dressed in costumes while tailgating.

Josie El-Kahi, a clinician who works in the oncology department, says events like this are vital for both workers and patients.

“Dragon Boat is a great event for any corporation or any team,” El-Kahi said. “People who work together – you work together really hard day in, day out in your professional roles – this is an opportunity for you to come together with your family and with your colleagues’ families, be outside in the sunshine and just work together as a team in a different way for a great cause.”

Associate nursing director Fabienne Germeil has seen positive outcomes from such initiatives.

“We’ve been very fortunate with the foundation that has been helping us,” Germeil said. “Some of the initiatives that we’ve done lately was putting a music therapist, a massage therapist for the patients, but also for the families sometimes. We’ve heard from the families and from the patients very positive comments on how it helps them.”

El-Kahi and the team added that to see the Montreal community come together for a collective cause shows how much support is needed for cancer services.

“You really get to give back to your community and to have an event like this where people can also support and provide funds to give back to that community too. I think it’s a really positive thing,” she said.