Nurse and volunteers offer St. Mary's patients day of pampering

Diana Gouvopoulos walks down the corridor of St. Mary's oncology and palliative care unit asking: "A little more champagne?"

She pops into the patients' rooms, offering each person a cup of non-alcoholic champagne.

But this is not a typical nursing shift for Gouvopoulos.

In fact, she is not on the clock.

Gouvopoulos used to work as a nurse at the hospital, but today she is back at St. Mary's — for the first time since the start of the pandemic — to attend to cancer patients with "tender loving care."

It's the third annual edition of TLC Day, an initiative Gouvopoulos started as a way to pamper oncology and palliative care patients. With the help of volunteer hair stylists, manicurists, massage therapists and make-up artists, the unit's cancer patients are getting the full TLC treatment.

And then there is the food.

A table is decked out with a spread that includes souvlaki, steaks, pizza and doughnuts — all donated from restaurants. There are also gift bags lined up on the front desk, each with their own bright shade of wrapping tissue.

"Just to see people being alone and secluded in their rooms is just heart-wrenching ... Our goal is to banish and eliminate the loneliness and isolation," said Gouvopoulos.

"It's just a lot of people volunteering their time one day out of the year just to spread love and give some smiles," she said.

But she insists she gets more from the experience than the patients do.

Ron Dickinson is a patient at the hospital. He is getting treatment for tumours on his lungs. But despite being hospitalized, he says he's lucky to be in good hands on a normal day.

Today, however, is extra special, he says.

"It was really unexpected to be honest," Dickinson said, after getting a haircut in his room by a volunteer.