Olivia Newton-John calls for government cancer treatment funding Olivia Newton John joins breast cancer survivor Ana Noronha in a wellness room at the Olivia Newton John Cancer and Wellness Centre in Heidelberg. AS the final stage of her cancer and wellness centre opens, Olivia Newton-John is hopeful that governments will eventually pay for cancer patients to access massage, acupuncture and music therapy as part of their standard treatment. After more than a decade of fundraising and lobbying, the 92 inpatient beds and palliative care ward in the $189 million Heidelberg hospital will open tomorrow. It features: AUSTRALIAN-FIRST technology that allows patients and staff to communicate using wi-fi phones and touchscreens and enables tasks and equipment to be electronically tracked in real time SPECIALLY designed rooms for obese patients A GYM WELLNESS spaces interspersed with wards for families to relax and dine together A MULTI-SENSORY room where dying patients can watch relaxing projections of waterfalls and forests, with soothing music and mood lighting Newton-John said the feedback she had received from patients who were already benefiting from the new centre had been inspirational. Each year she needs to raise up to $2 million to pay for the wellness progams, but she is buoyed by the overwhelmingly positive feedback from patients. She said that it would be wonderful if the governments could fund it. There are definite benefits from being supported this way and I think once people have gone through wellness programs this will be a part of their daily life, which is beneficial to the Government to not only maintain sick people but to keep people healthy. She said the importance of supporting people's body and mind's during their cancer treatment had become the norm in recent years. That's why hopefully the Government will become involved eventually because they are kind of normal now. The Austin's medical director of cancer services Professor Jonathan Cebon said the centre was not a "day spa," but a hospital with a strong research focus. We recognise that there is a lot of acceptance in the community about what complementary therapy has to offer, but we don't just provide them because people think it's a good idea, we need evidence. He said that it was difficult to put an economic value on the benefits of supporting patients and their families change if research demonstrated it was valuable. Currently 52 acute beds and 21 pallative beds are open with the remaining designated for future growth. ONJCWC project director Shane Crow said it was the first hospital in Australia to use a nurse on call with touch screen and wi-fi tracking. To deliver relief as quickly as possible, patients in palliative care have buzzers that indicate if they need water or pain relief beside their bed and in the bathroom. They can also talk to staff directly via the wi-fi phone. It also has an eight-bed haematology zone with ultra-clean air, which allows bone marrow transplant patients to safely leave the isolation of their rooms. Each of the palliative care rooms has a window that opens to allow patients to feel the breeze from their bed.