DAVAO CITY (MindaNews / 17 October) – The House of Hope Foundation for Kids With Cancer Inc. (House of Hope) needs more shared care facilities in Mindanao as the group and its existing partners can only cater to one in three children suffering from such illness annually, an official said.
Dr. Mae Dolendo, the foundation’s founding president and program director, said that only 500 out of the estimated 1,500 children with cancer can be catered yearly by the group and its existing shared care facilities in the different parts of Mindanao.
During the Kapehan sa Dabaw on Monday, she revealed the foundation is in talks with the Davao Oriental Provincial Medical Center in Mati City and the Cotabato Regional Medical Center in Cotabato City to add them as shared medical care facilities for cancer patients.
Dolendo noted the foundation is seeking to capacitate other medical facilities outside Davao City to help children with cancer gain access to treatment.
House of Hope’s existing shared facilities are the state-owned Northern Mindanao Medical Center in Cagayan de Oro City and Davao Regional Medical Center in Tagum City and the privately owned St. Elizabeth Hospital, Inc. in General Santos City and the La Viña General Hospital, Inc. in Valencia City, Bukidnon.
Through the shared care facilities, the foundation assigns doctors of different specialties, administrative assistants, and a team who can refer patients to the foundation, facilitate requests of those patients, or assist outgoing patients in other regions.
“If we get the help of the local communities where they are, hopefully medyo marami-rami ang ma-diagnose early and ma-treat (we can diagnose more patients early and treat them),” she said.
“With this strategy that we call referral pathway, we hope we could see (and treat) more children with cancer in Mindanao,” she added.
The foundation currently attends to at least 35 admitted patients and 20 outpatients. This year, the foundation assisted at least 120 cancer patients so far with majority of them suffering from leukemia.
Dolendo said that House of Hope shells out P40,000 to P50,000 for the regular treatment of a cancer patient, and P100,000 to P200,000 if a patient requires special treatment.
She admitted their services are limited by financial constraints. The charity gets funds from donations and special fund-raising projects.
The foundation caters to cancer patients aged 19 and below who are admitted at the Southern Philippines Medical Center and in the group’s shared care facilities.
As part of their fundraising program, the House of Hope is holding the FIVERA fundraising concert on October 21 at the SMX Convention Center Davao, with the proceeds benefitting the cancer patients of the foundation.
Dolendo called on the public to support the concert to help child cancer patients in Mindanao. (Miah Christine Bontilao / MindaNews)
