INSIGHTS– 2022 Q3
We are pleased to share some news about our new look and some highlights through September 2022. As we look to the future. It’s your generous donations, large and small, that continue to make a difference for children. adolescents and adults facing serious illnesses, like cancer, in South and Southeast Asia. And we thank you for your support!
Closing the Circle on Cancer
When we started more than 12 years ago our focus was on building palliative care capacity with small programs in India and Nepal. Our organization’s name – then and now – reflects the disparities in cancer care across the globe. Sadly , these Two Worlds still exist.
Today, in India and Nepal these are growing palliative care programs greatly impact the lives of those with cancer and other life-limiting illnesses. Some are now sustained by local NGOs, and state and national governments which have embraced palliative care within their healthcare systems. This has happened through the advocacy and sustained efforts of our local partners- individuals and organizations. Two Worlds Cancer Collaboration continues to provide our partners both with financial and in-kind support to help build and sustain this capacity for care.
Today, as we look to “Close the Circle” this means helping build capacity to support cancer prevention. Early diagnosis. treatment, and cure, as well as continued support for palliative and end-of-life care. From our early programs to now, none of this would be possible without your belief in us, and your continued and generous support of our programs in India, Nepal, Bangladesh, Sri Lanka and the Philippines.
Our new logo represents a transition as we work with our partners to “Close the Circle” ultimately providing better care for those with life-limiting illness.
Our first volunteer visits to India and Nepal since the COVID-19 Pandemic started
Two Worlds Cancer volunteers Dr. Natasha Datoo and nurse Melanie Hameluck visited our colleagues at the MNJ Institute, Niloufer Children’s Hospital and the Kumudini Devi Hospice and Mandara Hospice in India in September. They then joined Dr. Stuart Brown and nurse practitioner Camara van Breemen, visiting our partners at Bhaktapur Cancer Hospital and our new partners at Kanti Children’s Hospital in Kathmandu in Nepal.
A new partnership was formalized during their trip between our Sunflower Children’s Network and Kanti Children’s Hospital. The goal is to build a national centre of excellence in children’s palliative care for Nepal.
Two Worlds Cancer volunteers put in countless hours supporting our online education and mentorship programs while working at their ‘day jobs’ with some of our affiliated organizations back in their home countries.
Our volunteer healthcare professionals on the recent visits to India and Nepal:
Dr. Stuart Brown is a palliative care specialist at Waikato Hospital in Hamilton, New Zealand and a Director of Two Worlds Cancer Collaboration since its inception
Dr. Natasha Datoo is Pediatric Hematologist/Oncologist at BC Children’s Hospital and a palliative care physician at Canuck Place Children’s Hospice in Vancouver, Canada
Camara van Breemen is a nurse practitioner at Canuck Place Children’s Hospice in Vancouver, Canada and a Director of Two Worlds Cancer Collaboration
Melanie Hameluck is a pediatric palliative and oncology care nurse who works in the oncology, bone marrow transplant and hematology program at BC Children’s Hospital and Canuck Place Children’s Hospice in Vancouver, Canada
Fellowship Program to expand in 2023
Supported by our Sunflower Children’s Network faculty, our hybrid fellowships in children’s palliative care continue through this year with three Fellowships. The program is a hybrid of online education and mentorship and in-person clinical training in Hyderabad. This program is now supported by more than 20 faculty members from eight countries volunteering their time and energy to support the Fellows. And in 2023, we are hoping to add a fourth Fellowship with a Fellow each from India, Nepal, Bangladesh and the Philippines.
The Hybrid Fellowship Program is endorsed by the College of Physicians and Surgeons (UK).
Rural Palliative Care expanding
to Andhra Pradesh
Rural palliative care has taken root firmly in Telangana through the advocacy and support of Dr. Gayatri Palat and her team. Today 301 districts in Telangana the state have a rural hospice – locally known as Palliative Seva Kendra (PSKs) – associated with rural hospitals part of the Telangana Palliative Health and Home Care initiative.
The PSKs grew from a grassroots, rural outreach program started by Dr. Palat and funded by Two Worlds Cancer Collaboration that provided palliative care and support for cancer patients in two rural villages outside Hyderabad. And from the model of compassionate care at the Kumudini Devi Hospice in Hyderabad.
The government funded PSK model of care delivery in Telangana is now being adapted in Andhra Pradesh. In July, the first district PSK was opened in Andhra Pradesh with the building funded by the AP government and operation supported by NGOs with training and mentorship support from Dr. Palat and her team at the Hyderabad Centre for Palliative Care.
Our look is changing but not
our vision or mission
Along with our new logo we are excited to announce we will be launching a new website in the near future. Stay tuned to our social media to learn when we go “live” with the new site.
And follow us on social media to see the impact your donations make to the individual lives of children and adults living with cancer and other serious illnesses.
And as we head towards the year end. please consider a donation to our annual Shine Some Light campaign beginning in November. For more information on our programs and to donate in Canada visit our website twoworldscancer.ca On behalf of the Two Worlds Cancer Collaboration team, thank you for your generous and continuing support!
Sincerely,
Dr. Simon Sutcliffe
President Two Worlds Cancer Collaboration