Adding Life To Their Days
In 1996, Harmala Gupta, a cancer survivor who had set up the first peer-based emotional support group (Cancer Sahyog) at the Indian Cancer Society, Delhi, decided to found an independent NGO – CanSupport ‒ focused on palliative care. A pioneer of home-based palliative care in North India, it fills a critical gap in the continuing care of cancer patients through a holistic and unique model. Recognising the value of home-based palliative care, WHO India invited them early on to establish guidelines for the country. Currently, they are working on a pilot project in Haryana that will hopefully be integrated into the public healthcare system and will bring palliative care to the doorstep of patients around the country.
Palliative care focuses on patients and helps in easing troublesome symptoms by providing care and support to the patient and the family at a critical time. It “adds life to their days” by relieving suffering so people can live with hope and dignity. Spanning five states (Delhi, Haryana, Uttar Pradesh, Punjab and Jharkhand) its 39 multidisciplinary teams of more than 120 experts (doctors, nurses, counsellors and social workers) and volunteers, offer wide ranging services to about 90,000 patients and their family caregivers annually, free of charge. More than eight lakh people have already benefitted from their programmes across all ages and all forms of cancer. Starting from the diagnosis and spanning all curative therapies, they adapt to the specific needs of each patient as cancer progresses. The care extends even after the death of the patient through bereavement counselling and rehabilitative support.
CanSupport’s approach impacts all parameters of quality of life ‒ physical, emotional, interpersonal etc. ‒ with practical ways so patients can regain a sense of control and self-worth. It also empowers families to make informed decisions and equips them with caregiving and coping skills and organises resources to make a challenging journey manageable for everyone. Major verticals of the programme are as follows:
*Home Care
The core programme aims at care of patients with advanced cancer to maintain a good quality of life and dignity through 30 teams. About 20,000 patients and caregivers serve annually. There may be some overlap with the figures below for out-patient clinics and under ‘resource facilitation’.
*Out-Patient Clinics
Nine clinics, including a mobile one, also serves 20,000 patients annually.
These facilitate early intervention in the cancer trajectory when patients are under active treatment and enables improved treatment outcomes through management of side-effects.
*Day Care
Day Care programmes for children and adult patients under treatment and their caregivers are offered healing therapies and peer support in a positive environment, run mostly by volunteers from among cancer survivors. Nearly 8,000 visits are made annually and should translate into about 2,500 beneficiaries.
*Resource Facilitation
A team of social workers assist in mobilising financial aid for cancer treatment, laboratory investigations and imaging tests as well as non-financial resources and equipment through national and state government schemes and by networking with allied organisations. They have been able to support more than 20,000 patients by mobilising resources worth Rs 4-5 crore annually.
*National Helpline
Skilled counsellors man the national helpline offering information, navigation, service referrals and emotional support to callers. It offers pan-India telemedicine services through expert doctors and nurses and services 10,000 calls per year.
*Training Collaborations & Research:
CanSupport has more than 20 years’ experience in training, education and research. It conducts about 200 internal and external training sessions annually. It engages in capacity building collaborations with state governments for its healthcare professionals, apart from internships and research opportunities.
