Yoga, massages offered to cancer patients

Struggling cancer patients now have healthy outlets thanks to the Little Red Door Cancer Agency.

Free yoga classes and massage sessions are now available with the agency’s new Door to Wellness program.

“We have been here providing cancer patients with different community resources while they go through treatment,” Vice President of Program Development Tanya Shelbourne said.

Little Red Door is completely free to patients and their caregivers.
“Services are free because we mainly serve lower-income families,” media coordinator Zina Kumok said.

Patients should not be afraid to contact them for assistance, she said.

Little Red Door of Indianapolis began in 1945 as a local resource for Central Indiana.

The organization has been adding more services throughout the past two years, Shelbourne said.

“Research has shown yoga and massage can help a patient going through treatment,” client navigator Michelle Hallmark said.

Since adding the wellness activities, patients often come back again and again, Hallmark said.

The yoga and massage therapists at Little Red Door specialize in oncology, which helps them know exactly what each patient needs, she said.

“We had a patient who could not lift her arm after treatments, and the massage therapist was able to target that area, and she was able to raise her arm when she left,” Shelbourne said.

The wellness activities are only offered every Tuesday, but Shelbourne said there could be plans to extend it in the future.

“After we see that we are doing well, then we can go to funders and try to get funding to offer it more often,” she said.

She said the organization has been working hard to get their help to the people who need it.

“We have been promoting it and letting providers know we offer this service for patients,” Kumok said.