Meet our friendly staff who will look after you during your visit at the centres at Epsom and St Helier hospitals.
Tarlika Patel
Macmillan cancer information manager
Teresa Howes
Macmillan cancer information and support manager
Teresa started work at the Macmillan Butterfly Centre (MBC) in October 2004. She came from the voluntary sector where she had spent the previous eleven years setting up a variety of new projects working with vulnerable people who had a range of health and social care needs. Previously, Teresa had been a care manager for an independent care agency, working with older people and those with disabilities.
Information, support and advocacy have always been an integral part of her work, with the focus on exploring the options to enable people to make choices and to remain safe and independent at home. In two of the projects she also recruited volunteers to provide some practical assistance. The roles were challenging but very rewarding.
The centre, and its satellite service at St Helier, benefits from the input of more than 50 volunteers who put people at ease when they arrive and also offer a range of complementary therapies. Teresa enjoys working with the volunteers as they are totally committed and willing to help in whatever ways they can to make the journey a little less stressful for patients and carers.
At the MBC we try to help people at a very difficult time in their lives, it is challenging but extremely rewarding. Teresa enjoys her work immensely because it is very satisfying for her to know that the work of the centres contributes to improving the quality of life of the patients and carers through their cancer journey.
