Kathleen Kilgour Centre

09/07/2026

✨ Celebrating Matariki together ✨

At Kathleen Kilgour Centre, our team came together to share a special Matariki lunch, taking time to reflect, connect, and celebrate the Māori New Year.

We were honoured to begin our gathering with a beautiful karakia:

Matariki atua ka eke ki runga
Nau mai Ngā hua
Nau mai ngā taonga
Nau mai te Mātahi o te tau
Tūturu whakamaua kia tina! Tina!
Haumi e!
Hui e! Taiki e!

Translation:

Matariki, guardian above, rise.
Welcome the fruits, welcome the gifts,
welcome the first harvest of the year.
Let it be firmly bound and established.
Draw together! Unite!
It is done!

Matariki is a time to remember those who have gone before us, celebrate the present, and look ahead with hope for the year to come. We are grateful for the opportunity to come together as a team, share a meal, and embrace the values of reflection, gratitude, and connection that Matariki inspires.

✨ Mānawatia a Matariki – Happy Matariki from all of us at Kathleen Kilgour Centre.

19/05/2026

Today we are celebrating Clinical Trials Day. We have a hard-working local multidisciplinary Research Committee and a drive to contribute to high-quality clinical research and give our local patients the opportunity to participate in cancer clinical trials. We are proud to partner with TROG Cancer Research as well as Australasian Universities and clinics to help advance radiation medicine research. We are particularly grateful this year for the support and funding from the Prostate Cancer Foundation of New Zealand, which is enabling us to collaboratively explore a novel motion management technique for prostate radiotherapy treatments.

15/05/2026

🎓 ✨ Celebrating Success at KKC ✨ 🎓
A huge congratulations to our new graduates from the Bachelor of Radiation Therapy at University of Otago! 🎓 We are so proud of you! ✨
Your dedication and perseverance have led to this incredible achievement, and we are honoured that you have chosen to continue your journey with us at KKC.
Starting your professional journey is such a special milestone, and we cannot wait to support you as you grow, learn, and make a meaningful difference in the lives of our patients.
We look forward to watching you thrive as part of the KKC team! 💙 Congratulations and welcome! ✨

11/05/2026

💙 Celebrating our amazing nursing team this International Nurses Day 💙
Today we recognize and thank our incredible nurses for the compassion, dedication, and care you bring to our patients and team each and every day.
Your strength, kindness, professionalism, and unwavering support make such a meaningful difference. We are truly grateful for everything you do and proud to work alongside such an exceptional team.
Powered by kindness, teamwork, coffee, and a whole lot of heart 💙☕👩‍⚕️

28/11/2025

Here at our centre, we believe knowledge is a powerful way to ease nerves and help you feel more confident about your treatment.
Our team is dedicated to making sure every patient feels supported from the moment they walk through our doors. That’s why we’ve created a new video showing the process of making a radiotherapy treatment mask — one of the first steps in preparing for Head and Neck treatment.

The video highlights not just the mask-making process, but the people behind it: the radiation therapists, the technology, and the care that goes into ensuring your treatment is as precise and comfortable as possible. We know new experiences can feel daunting, and our hope is that this video helps answer questions, reduce uncertainty, and build trust in the process.

We hope this video is a helpful resource for patients, whānau, and anyone wanting to better understand how radiotherapy works. 💙

10/10/2025

Today is a reminder that mental health matters — every day, for everyone.
In our busy lives, it’s easy to prioritise the needs of others and forget our own wellbeing. But taking care of your mind is just as important as caring for your body. Whether that means taking a quiet moment to breathe, reaching out for support, or simply checking in with a friend or colleague — those small steps make a big difference.
Let’s keep creating spaces where it’s okay to talk about how we’re really doing, where kindness leads and where no one feels alone in what they’re facing.
To all my colleagues and our wider community — thank you for the compassion, empathy and strength you show every day. Let’s continue to look out for one another and make mental health a true priority, not just today, but always. 💚

💚 You matter.

08/09/2025

Well done, Kate! We’re incredibly proud to have you as part of the KKC team.

🙌 SEPTEMBER 7 WORLD RADIOTHERAPY AWARENESS DAY - Kate from Tauranga

☢️ There are only ten clinical providers of Radiation Therapy in Aotearoa. Each year 25,000 around the motu are diagnosed with cancer - radiation therapy is a safe and effective treatment - but currently not enough cancer patients who should be receiving radiation therapy are getting it. One of the places patients can receive radiation therapy in Aotearoa is Tauranga. 🏥

Kate works as a Radiation Therapist in Tauranga

💬Here's what she wanted to share with you:

Kia ora e te whānau, I'm Kate 🙂I have recently moved to Tauranga, where I work as a Radiation Therapist. I have always been passionate about the health and well-being of our communities, so a career in radiation therapy made perfect sense for me. I am newly qualified, having recently graduated from the University of Otago, and have been working in my role for almost ten months now. As part of my training, I did two 6-month clinical placements—one in Hamilton and one in Tauranga. I find my role incredibly rewarding; getting to support patients through their cancer treatment journey is such a privilege. I hope that World Radiation Therapy Day will increase the general public's awareness and understanding of radiation therapy. Many people fear cancer treatments, due to a lack of information or misinformation. If we can help demystify the process, hopefully, this will help more patients access radiation treatment and reduce some of the health inequities we unfortunately see across Aotearoa. Thanks for taking the time to read this post and learn a bit more about Radiation Therapy!

🧡 Ngā mihi Kate for helping to spread the word - One voice for raising awareness of radiotherapy as a safe, effective and advanced treatment!

08/09/2025

🎉Happy First Ever World Radiotherapy Awareness Day! 🧡

On Friday we joined radiation therapy departments around the world to celebrate the incredible work of our profession and the life-changing care we provide to patients every day.

At Kathleen Kilgour Centre, we marked this special occasion with a delicious shared lunch, a beautiful cake, and of course, by dressing up in orange

– the official colour of the day!

It was a wonderful opportunity to come together as a team, reflect on the vital role radiation therapy plays in cancer treatment, and raise awareness in our community.

Here’s to many more years of innovation, teamwork, and compassionate care.

18/08/2025

We’re so proud – and incredibly happy – to have played a part in Stanley’s journey 💛
As the first ever animal to receive radiation treatment at Kathleen Kilgour Centre, Stanley holds a very special place in our hearts.
A huge thank you to the amazing team at ARC Vets for their collaboration and care every step of the way. This was teamwork at its finest!
KKC’s first radiation pet patient and now a forever star 🐶💛