Lou Thomas, owner of Lou Thomas Subaru in Parkersburg (center), was at the WVU Medicine Cancer Institute at Camden Clark on Tuesday to drop off around 100 blankets and care kits for the center to give to patients undergoing cancer treatment. He was surrounded by many of the personnel who work at the center. (Photo by Brett Dunlap)

PARKERSBURG — Comforting cancer patients while they undergo treatment is the focus of a donation a local auto dealer is making to the WVU Medicine Camden Clark Medical Center.

On Tuesday, Lou Thomas, owner of Lou Thomas Subaru in Parkersburg, presented a donation of around 100 blankets and care packages for local cancer patients to the WVU Medicine Cancer Institute at Camden Clark as part of Subaru’s Loves to Care program.

This was the sixth year in a row the dealership was able to make these donations to help local cancer patients.

Dr. Jeff Ryckman, Associate Professor for Radiation Oncology, said it is important to make patients as comfortable as possible as they go through treatment which can affect different people in different ways.

“Blankets just provide comfort and warmth,” he said. “People are going through a traumatic time.

Around 100 blankets were given to the WVU Medicine Cancer Institute at Camden Clark on Tuesday by Lou Thomas Subaru in Parkersburg as part of Subaru’s Loves to Care program. Many patients who undergo chemotherapy and other cancer treatments can feel cold as a result and the blankets are to help keep people warm. (Photo by Brett Dunlap)

“I think it was great that Lou Thomas Subaru was able to support us and our patients year after year.”

The blankets will be used by people going through chemotherapy to keep warm. As patients undergo chemotherapy and treatments, people can feel cold in their arms and their legs so even though it has been hot outside many patients would still like to have a blanket.

“Our treatments are not benign,” Ryckman said. “They do have side effects, even on hot days folks might feel cold based on what we subject them to.

“They might have numbness and tingling in their hands and their feet.”

The whole team in the cancer center helps contribute to the care and comfort of their patients from the doctors and nurses to the others who work there, Ryckman said.

Around 100 care packages were part of a donation made Tuesday at the WVU Medicine Cancer Institute at Camden Clark. The care kits include a collapsible cup, stress ball, colored pencils, an activity book and more. (Photo by Brett Dunlap)

“It is a nice personal touch,” he said. “In today’s world, there is too much impersonal nature in medicine in the digital age.

“It is nice to have something that we can physically give to patients to show that we care. This wouldn’t be possible without Lou Thomas Subaru.”

The care kits include a collapsible cup, stress ball, colored pencils, an activity book and more.

Loves to Care is an initiative from Subaru that encourages dealerships to partner with a health care organization treating cancer patients to do something to help people in their communities, Thomas said.

“We want to show cancer patients that someone out there knows what they are going through and cares,” he said.

The blankets are packaged like pillows and can be used as such, but it can be unzipped and be turned into a blanket.

“They help keep the patient comfortable and help keep them warm,” Thomas said.

Cancer is a disease that impacts a lot of people from every walk of life.

“There isn’t a family anywhere that has not been touched by cancer somewhere along the line,” Thomas said. “Everyone understands how important it is to know that there is support.

“Many people have been down that path and people do care.”

The money for these blankets and kits comes directly from the dealership with support from corporate based on the size of the community and the number of cancer patients being treated locally.

“They come up with a number and we come up with the funding,” Thomas said.

It is important for the dealership to be able to provide this support to many being treated for cancer.

“It would be wonderful if the need did not exist and we could do something else,” Thomas said. “I don’t know if that will ever happen, but as long as there is a need, as long as there is cancer and as long as it touches our lives I hope we can keep doing it forever.”