Reaching out

When it comes to working in children’s palliative care, one becomes more aware of children and their needs or disposition. Whether it be while performing our duties in the hospital or walking casually in the shops, it’s something that becomes automatic.

The RHP team was assisting a patient who came for review and a chemotherapy session on this particular day. Since the chemo session can be up to three hours long, we proceeded to ensure that she got all her prescribed medication from both government and private pharmacies, if stock was short. While we waited in the queue at the government hospital pharmacy, a girl who was accompanied by her sister caught our eye. As we chatted, the RHP play coordinator asked to approach the teenage girls and chat with them. She went ahead and introduced herself. The girls shared a brief background on their situation and the treatment the younger sister was receiving. After the play coordinator came back with the information and found out she was being seen by the Nephrologist, we both agreed it was a palliative care case and proceeded to assist the patient.

Since the patient didn’t receive all her prescribed medications, we took them to a local private pharmacy to purchase the remaining ones. We then reached out to the Doctor to discuss the case and committed to helping where RHP can. The Doctor was delighted at hearing from us and proceeded to suggest a few areas where RHP could help. A few days later, we met in person, where she told us the extent of treatment and hardships the patient faces to just receive the necessary care. The patient has kidney failure and is on peritoneal dialysis, which she does three times a day. They live about two and a half hours away (on public transport) from the referral hospital where she receives specialized care. Due to doing treatment at home, she has to transport twenty-four boxes of the peritoneal fluid with the family usually having to pay for an expensive taxi to transport the boxes due to limited space in the public transport and changeovers that need to be made. She comes once a month for her review and refill of medication. Despite all these hurdles, the patient continues to study and do well in school, managing her condition and continuing the necessary daily treatment. The Nephrologist gave us detailed information about the patient and thanked us for reaching out to take on this case.

While we discussed the case with the doctor, one of the main challenges was the transport of the peritoneal fluid to the home. The RHP volunteer, for some reason, kept thinking why the area where the girls lived sounded familiar, but didn’t think too much about it. Later that day, she excitedly called to say that the organisation her husband works for goes to the local small hospital in that area, and they could arrange for the boxes to be taken from the main hospital to the patient’s area. How about that!! She then proceeded to link the organisation to the Doctor to have them arrange the logistics of future transport. 

The mother of the girls reached out to the play coordinator and thanked her for the assistance and for caring enough to take time to chat with them when they were at the hospital.   

A normal day turned out to be one opportunity to reach out and avoid the ‘what ifs’ – what if we didn’t reach out, what if the patient didn’t feel comfortable talking to us, what if the RHP volunteer hadn’t come that day, etc.

This story demonstrates the importance of teamwork and collaboration between organisations and hospitals. It’s very powerful that working together creates a feeling of hope and strengthens the community. Everyone involved, from the girl and her family to the driver who transports the bags, the nurses and doctors at the National Referral Hospital and the local small hospital, the team at RHP and other organisations, are all sharing the blessings of joy and being a helping hand! 

Do not withhold good from those who deserve it when it’s in your power to help them - Proverbs 3:27 (NLT)