Saving our Kids
There has been a gap in terms of treatment for children with Cancer in the region, so says Leonard Nolasco, Manager of Major Gifts & Strategic projects at the SickKids Foundation.
Nolasco was speaking at the Republic Bank, the Power To Make A Difference launch at the Broad Street location as he thanked the Republic Bank for being one of the beneficiaries.
He recounted, “We are a 144-year-old institution. We see patients from across the world. The SickKids Caribbean initiative started in 2010 when a Canadian family was vacationing here in Barbados and their son took ill and he was transported back to Canada where he was diagnosed with Leukaemia. The mother asked the doctor who was Head of Cancer at SickKids ‘if my son was living in the Caribbean what would have been his chances for survival? The doctor said ‘we are not tracking that data right now but somewhere between 40-50 per cent, while in Canada children diagnosed with Leukaemia their chances are over 85 per cent'. The mother asked if I could fund an assessment ‘can you go and find the gaps and see how we can help?’ We went to six countries in the Caribbean – Barbados, Jamaica, Bahamas, Trinidad & Tobago, St Lucia, St Vincent and the Grenadines.
We found out that there were many gaps when it came to cancer care for children. There were not many trained doctors; in Barbados there was only one paediatric oncologist. There were no nurses trained in paediatric haematology/oncology. When we were doing research in St. Lucia, we found out that some of the nurses were scared to treat children with Cancer for fear of getting cancer themselves!”
Nolasco also raised the alarming fact that no one was tracking the data, no one knew the incidents of cancer rates among children across the Caribbean and doctors were not in communication with one another.
According to him, “As a result of this assessment we decided to launch the Sick Kids Caribbean initiative, and the aim is to improve the outcomes for children diagnosed with Cancer and serious blood disorders in the Caribbean. The first phase was focused on education, we trained two fellows from Jamaica at Sick Kids; we are currently training one physician form Barbados that will return to Barbados fully trained in paediatric haematology and oncology. We have also trained 27 nurses who are now able to deliver the appropriate care to children with cancer around the Caribbean.
“We are now starting to track the data and since the launch of the initiative we have found 628 children diagnosed with Cancer around the region and this would tell us the type of cancer that is prominent across this population and to have standardised treatment so that they are not being misdiagnosed and mistreated.”
Moving forward, Nolasco, highlighted, “We want to focus on continuing education for physicians and nurses in the region. We also want to continue the research that this work can be carried forward. We thank the Republic Bank Barbados for your commitment and the nurse training part of the programme. At Sick Kids we believe that where you live should not determine if you live.” (NB)