Pomoz im (Help them)
The “Pomóż im” (Help them) Foundation was created on 2nd July 2007 on the foundation of the Society of Friends of Children with Proliferative Disorders operating since 9th April 1991. Our activity focuses on taking care of children suffering from cancer in the whole macro region of North-East Poland – the patients of the Paediatric Oncology and Haematology department of the Medical University of Białystok. Since 1st May 2009, with the start of the Home Hospice for Children, our activity has also been focused on looking after terminally ill children from the whole Podlaskie Region. Furthermore, since then our activity has been two sided – on the one hand, we help children and their families during treatment and after overcoming the disease, and on the other hand we provide free palliative home care for children that have no chance to recover.
The foundation helps patients at every stage of the disease: from diagnosis to full recovery, also providing survivors with support, even years after treatment. We offer help to the families and siblings of our patients in the form of support groups. We do our best to keep the Clinic as colourful as possible, and to make the fairy-tale worlds painted on our windows help the kids in their struggle. Within the “Fairy-tale Rooms” project we do our best to make more down-to-earth dreams of our patients and their families come true by modernizing or remodelling their houses. Often, these families live in very modest conditions which make it difficult for the children to rehabilitate and recover.
We remember about every important date in the child’s life – their birthday, Saint Nicholas Day, Children’s Day, Valentine’s Day, Christmas and Easter – by celebrating them cheerfully, remembering about gifts, organising games and meetings with exceptional people, we also try to make the children’s every-day wishes come true. Our volunteers spend the afternoons with our young patients: they have fun and learn together. We work actively to help the children fully recover and believe that they can have the same life as their peers.
The rehabilitation holidays organized by our foundation are aimed at improving the children’s physical and mental fitness, as well as their ability to have fun, work and participate in the social life that children and young people have after surviving cancer. In particular, we focus on improving their health, well-being, and physical condition, and developing their personal resourcefulness and independence. Thanks to these holidays, the children can have a complete physical and mental rest, as well as develop cooperation, build group integrity, and improve their social skills. We also teach them how to lead a healthy life and “monitor” their health after recovery. Currently we are setting up the first Survivor Support Centre in Poland for children who suffered from cancer.
Every year we organize a convention for childhood cancer survivors and their families called “Onkosurvivors Meeting” (“Zjazd Onkoludków”).
We are also there when children cannot overcome their disease and need support in such difficult times, as well as professional care and companionship for the children and their families. In such situations, we provide all-day doctors’ and nurses’ care, as well as rehabilitation, psychological and spiritual support within a home hospice.
We also support the Department of Paediatric Oncology and Haematology, which is one of the referral centres in Poland for monitoring and treating complications in cancer chemotherapy, cooperating with other European institutions within PanCare projects. Through the experience of Childhood Cancer International we are planning to establish active cooperation with similar organisations in Europe and around the world.
Contact details: http://pomozim.org.pl / biuro@pomozim.org.pl / +48 85 66 22 003