CanSupport Annual Report

we can’t do it alone we need

you CanSupport CARING FOR PEOPLE WITH CANCER

Kanak Durga Basti Vikas Kendra Sector 12 R.K. Puram, Near DPS School New Delhi-110022 Tel: 26102851, 26102859, 26102869

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years of caring

Annual Report 2006-07

CanSupport CARING FOR PEOPLE WITH CANCER

CanSupport Our Mission

To enable people with advanced cancer and their families to make informed choices and decisions, and to receive appropriate physical, social and emotional support.

CanSupport Managing Committee March, 2006 Harmala Gupta, PRESIDENT Conitnues to pioneer the establishment of cancer support groups and service in India Anuradha Mittal, SECRETARY Social Worker Purushotam Bhatia (ICAS) (Retd.) TREASURER Former Chief Controller of Accounts, Ministry of Commerce & Textiles; Financial Advisor UGC and Jawaharlal Nehru University Shankar Ghose President, Charkha Development Communication Network.

Formerly COO & Senior Vice President, Sri Ram Industrial Enterprises Ltd.

CanSupport Advisory Council Dr. Sushma Bhatnagar, Head, Pain and Palliative Care Clinic, Institute Rotary Cancer Hospital, All India Institute of Medical Sciences, New Delhi Dr. (Col.) C.S. Pant, VSM, Consultant Radiologist Formerly Chief Imaging Division, INMAS Dr. V. Kochupillai, Chief, Institute Rotary Cancer Hospital, All India Institute of Medical Sciences, New Delhi Prof. Ranjit Roy Chaudhury, President, Delhi Society for Promotion of Rational Use of Drugs Ruth Wooldridge, OBE Day Care In-charge, Trinity Hospice, London

Soli K. Sorabji Senior Advocate and former Attorney General of India CanSupport Home Care Team

B.M. Kapur Managing Consultant and ex director Asian Centre for organisation Research and Development (ACORD) Anjana Bakht, Social Worker Nilima Chawla Consultant to national and international organizations working for women’s and children’s rights Achala Kaul, Social Worker Mohinder Nath Bhayana Industrialist in the field of construction & building

The President’s Annual Report, 2006-2007 Dear friends, We shall soon have a road map for CanSupport for the next five years. The exercise to draw it up has taken longer than expected but I believe it was well worth the wait. We are fortunate to have an extremely skilled facilitator in Sunil Nehru and we can not thank him enough for the time and energy he so generously continues to commit to us. The next few months will be spent in designing a time bound strategy for action on the ground. It has also provided us with an opportunity to reflect on what we have achieved in the past ten years and where we want to reach in the next ten years. But first a look at the year that was.

Providing care to the community CanSupport’s third satellite centre in Gurgaon, an area bordering Delhi on its south, has taken off admirably. It is a service that has grown surely and steadily over the past year and at last count the home care team based there was looking after 49 patients. We thank the KPMG and Bagri Foundations for sponsoring the centre as we do Promed Exports Ltd. and Pfizer Ltd. for supporting our home care teams in West and East Delhi.

Our day care programme continues to be widely appreciated by the children and adults who use it. We are now running out of space as the numbers are growing rapidly. A welcome new addition to the therapies being offered has been ‘laughter therapy’. It is a delight to watch young and old alike doubled up with laughter. They say they feel most

reinvigorated afterwards. Our monthly “drop in” meetings that provide peer support in a confidential group setting continue. The last meeting of the year was turned into a half day workshop titled, “The Wellness Journey Through Healing Techniques for the Body and Mind” with Zuleikha, a movement therapist from the USA, and Lola, a healer from Spain, leading a session each. At the end of the morning, everyone felt good about themselves which is what it is all about.

The telephone help line continues its zigzag path. The phone has kept ringing though intermittently. Our volunteers have committed themselves anew to advertising it more vigorously as they are aware of how much it is needed.

Our community awareness programme has been a runaway success thanks to the talented volunteers who run it. The interactive module that they have developed for slum dwellers, especially women, and the skits that they perform to spread the messages of good health and early detection of cancer are unique. One can only see this activity growing in leaps and bounds in the coming year. It has also highlighted two of our most important needs – more volunteers and funds.

Meeting our need for funds The second World Hospice and Palliative Care Day held on October 7, 2006 provided yet another opportunity to raise funds for and awareness about our home based palliative

care programme. A musical recital by the noted and popular ghazal singer, Talat Aziz, ensured a full hall while the address given by our chief guest, Dr. V. Kochupillai, head of the Institute Rotary Cancer Hospital (IRCH), our collaborating partners, highlighted the theme of the day which was “access to care for all”.

We used the occasion of the World Day to also take the initiative to hold a workshop together with the Indian Association of Palliative Care, supported by the Ministry of Health & Family Welfare, Government of India, and WHO India, to draw up guidelines for home based palliative care in India. These will be published this year.

Other memorable fundraising efforts benefiting CanSupport included a gala ticketed evening organised by the French Embassy as well as “The Great Bake off ”. Hanife, a certified palliative care nurse from the US who

studied baking in Paris and has baked all over the world in a diverse range of cultures and settings, offered to cook her way into the stomachs (and wallets!) of people in Delhi on our behalf. She held two days of baking classes and cooked her heart out. Selling her baked goods at the American School to raise money for us was Lina Malas, one of the volunteers who joined our team last year, People matter Investing in training for others as well as for ourselves is one of our priorities. It ensures our ability to provide consistent good quality care and extends to both our staff and volunteers. We are therefore delighted to report that our senior nurse Sophiamma Sam’s stay in the UK over the summer thanks to a ‘Nursing Leadership Bursary’ from St. Christopher’s Hospice, London, went well. On her return,

armed with additional training skills and confidence, Sophiamma has held a number of sessions in palliative care for nurses in Delhi and outside. She has been ably assisted by Sr. Agnes Panikulam, our wise and able counsellor cum trainer.

Dr. DP Singh, a doctor who joined our west Delhi homecare team last year, also attended a six week Certificate Course in Palliative Medicine (BCCPM) run by the Pain and Palliative Care Society in Calicut, Kerala. He has come back with ideas on how we can further extend our home care service which he assures us is the best. They include setting up a respite centre of our own where simple procedures, such as a pleural tap, can be done for the comfort of patients who otherwise are neglected in big hospitals as they receive low priority. Seeing another palliative care service at work is an education in itself.

It is our belief in the efficacy of training that led us to extend the duration of our Foundation Course in Palliative Care, held annually in February, from two to four days.

The two additional days had special offerings for nurses and volunteers. We were extremely pleased with the turn out of doctors and nurses this time, which seems to suggest that palliative care is slowly but steadily gaining ground. We also continue to be indebted to the palliative care specialists from abroad who offer their time and expertise to us each year without any thought of recompense. We are particularly grateful to our regulars, Michael Minton MD and Liz Minton from Oxford, UK, as well as to our new and old friends from the UK who joined as faculty this year, Mhoira Leng MD, a palliative care consultant, Sue Varvel, a palliative care nurse, and Ruth

Wooldridge the nurse who helped us start the home care programme. We are also indebted to Sushma Bhatnagar MD and her team at the Institute Rotary Cancer Hospital (IRCH) at AIIMS for their consistent support and to Help the Hospices, UK, for funding the course.

Looking Ahead As was mentioned at the outset, we shall soon have a plan and a strategy in hand.

Needless to say our goals are ambitious as we have allowed our selves to dream big about the future. We realise that consistent effort will have to be put in over the next few years by each and every one of us involved with CanSupport to raise the required resources as well as inspire the people needed to ensure the successful implementation of our strategy, which will include hiring more professionals.

A heavy responsibility rests on our managing and advisory committees who going by past experience are more than up to the task, as are our industrious staff, including our home care teams, our selfless volunteers and our well wishers and benefactors. The challenge will be to widen our net to find more donors and sponsors to work alongside us as well as tap those who may want to help but as yet have not been asked to do so. What we shall offer them in return will be an opportunity to be part of the CanSupport vision for 2012 which is dedicated to the care of those who suffer needlessly in India because they do not have access to the care they crave and deserve.

Harmala Gupta President, CanSupport

REVIEW OF ACTIVITIES: APRIL 2006 TO MARCH 2007 HOME CARE We presently have 5 teams out in the field everyday and each team visits about 5-6 patients per day. The teams work out of four bases: the main centre in south Delhi and two other satellite centres located in east and west Delhi. We are happy to announce that this year we have started another satellite centre in Gurgaon. At any given time, we have about 160-180 patients under our care.

A few highlights • During the year 2006-2007, the CanSupport home care teams looked after 499 patients.

Of these 372 were new patients. In all 4276 home visits were made to the homes of patients and their families.

• The number of patients referred by our telephone helpline was 102 and we hope to keep on increasing this number.

• The maximum number of patients continue to be referred by the Institute Rotary Cancer Hospital’s Pain & Palliative Care Clinic at AIIMS. Referrals from this source were 191. A few patients were also referred by government hospitals such as the Lok Nayak Jaya Prakash (LNJP) Hospital, Safdarjung Hospital and the Research & Referral Army Hospital. We are yet to get significant referrals from private institutions. This is an area in which we hope to work in the coming year. There is obviously a need to raise the awareness of the benefits of palliative care among the medical community in these treating centers.

• As we now have a license to purchase, store and distribute oral morphine we were able to do so on our own for the first time this past year. Till now we were dependent on the largesse of the Institute Rotary Cancer

Hospital and our patients had to be registered with them before they could access this vital drug. We are happy to be able to supply it to them directly without their having to make extra visits to the hospital.

• The patients, the CanSupport home care teams look after come at a very late stage of their illness. Consequently we lose a number of them fairly soon. A total of 262 patients died this year. About 33 patients discontinued our care as they left for their native place. There were a few who found it difficult to accept the care we were offering as they were still looking for curative treatments.

• At the end of the year, the home care teams were making regular visits to 204 patients.

DAY CARE We are now into the 4th year of our day care programme. With each passing year our experience teaches us something new, which we incorporate into our activities and finally it translates into providing better care to our patients and their caregivers.

THE MONDAY CHILDREN’S DAY CARE The children’s day care continues to provide much needed support and care to children and their parents and is a unique opportunity for our volunteers to show they care. Every Monday, volunteers collect 15-20 children along with an equal number of parents from The Institute Rotary Cancer Hospital (IRCH) at All India Institute of Medical Sciences (AIIMS).

The Principal of Delhi Public School (DPS) in the vicinity of our centre at R. K. Puram, very kindly provides a minibus for ferrying the children and their parents to and fro.

The children are very excited and happy

to come to the daycare, as every Monday some new creative activity is planned for them by our volunteers, which the children enjoy. The creative craft activity helps the children to release their tensions and also promotes the healing process.

In the summer of 2006, two young girls Priyanka Chopra and Yamini Joshi, studying for their Masters in Applied Psychology spent two months at CanSupport conducting a study on the effects of our daycare programme on patients and their caregivers. Their final report was very encouraging as it validated the good effect it had on our beneficiaries but it also helped us to improve upon our programme. As a result of this study we started focusing on the emotional and psychological issues our teenage patients were going through. This has resulted in personalized attention and one to one interaction with our young patients. We would like to thank Priyanka and Yamini for a wonderful job done.

The parents of the children also have an opportunity to share their problems with our volunteers, who provide an empathetic listening ear. The parents are also taught Yoga and other relaxation techniques, which help them to release tensions and reduce stress. They also have an opportunity to interact with each other in a confidential group setting. One of our trained volunteers acts as a facilitator for this sharing process.

Before returning to the hospital the children and their parents are served delicious snacks which are usually sponsored by our donors.

We are very grateful to our individual donors and the Charities Aid Foundation, who have found us a donor who supports our medical assistance programme for the children. In the past year we have provided 630 children with supportive medicines and

adopted 12 patients for help with their cancer treatment. The children are also provided with nutritional supplements like Horlicks etc.

This year we introduced Laughter Therapy into our daycare and it was wonderful to see the children and their parents laugh away their pain and worries. The Laughter Therapy sessions conducted by Neelam Wadhera and her group incorporated simple exercises combined with laughter, which are very therapeutic.

We celebrated Diwali with the children.

Special food, games and gifts were organized.

For Children’s day in November a special puppet show was organized which held the children spellbound. December was time for Christmas celebration and like every year Father Christmas handed out gifts to all the children. The beautifully wrapped gifts were donated by Ms. Geeta Tooley of Little Learners School. The beginning of January was the time for personal portraits of children sketched by artist Sujit Kumar. This is our annual gift to our little patients. Later in January we took our children and their parents for a picnic to Lodhi Garden. Everyone had a wonderful time with kite flying, good food and games.

We have had visitors from across the globe to our center, thanks to our website. In November we had Danny from Spain who made the children happy with his clowning act. Zuleikha from the USA was with us in February-March.

She spent a whole month doing dance movement therapy with the children and their parents. Amy Potter from the U.K. was with us doing craft activities with the children.

Donor groups like Can Assist from the Canadian High Commission and American Women’s Association have visited our daycare to see how they can support us.

During the year we had 47 day care ses-

sions and in all 759 children and 639 parents benefited from our services.

THE FRIDAY DAY CARE Our beneficiaries for the Friday day care are out of town adult patients and their caregivers who are staying at the Rajgarhia Dharamshala run by AIIMS. Every Friday, our volunteers pick up about 20-25 patients and their caregivers from the Dharamshala and bring them to our center at R.K.Puram. The transport for this has been very kindly provided by a transporter Mr. Rishi Pawar.

It’s been now two years since we started bringing in the Dharamshala patients and they eagerly look forward to their visit to our center. Different therapies like yoga, acupressure, laughter therapy, breathing techniques for relieving stress and anxiety are planned for every Friday.

The whole group eagerly looks forward to learning something new, which they can practice on their own also. The laughter therapy really helps them to forget their pain and problems, at least for some time and is very therapeutic.

Like the previous year, this year too Zuleikha, a dance therapist from the USA spent time with the Friday group taking them through simple movements which facilitate healing.

The day care provides an outing for the patients and their caregivers and a place where they can share their pain and problems with our volunteers and also interact with other people going through similar circumstances.

Before the group goes back to the Dharamshala they are served simple, delicious home cooked lunch provided by our donors.

We would like to thank the Vasant Vihar Ladies Club, Neeti Sareen, Karan Caterers and Bhanu Seth for providing lunches on a regu-

lar basis every month. During the year we had 49 day care sessions, which were attended by 394 patients and 544 caregivers.

RAISING FUNDS AND AWARENESS • A group of volunteers joined to form an outreach committee to take cancer awareness to the streets of our jhuggies. They wrote a series of skits to perform on the street and hence conveyed their messages in an interesting manner. Through role-play, the team was able to reach its audience in a better way. This was launched in collaboration with the ASHA clinic community workers who run a splendid outreach programme in slums of Delhi.

• CanSupport in association with the Ministry of Health and Family Welfare organized a Cancer Awareness Run on the occasion of the National Cancer Awareness Day at the National Stadium in New Delhi on 7th Nov 2006. The run was supported by WHO India.

• The second World Hospice and Palliative Care Day was held in October. The theme this year was “Access to Care for All”. This was marked by a musical recital by the noted ghazal singer, Talat Aziz.

• The last fundraiser of the year “The Great Bake off” turned out to be an unbeatable combination. Hanife, a certified palliative care nurse studied baking in Paris and had baked all over the world in a diverse range of cultures and settings. She offered to cook her way into the hearts of people in Delhi on behalf of CanSupport.

• CanSupport volunteers attended a series of Melas during October to December at different venues at schools, colleges and Embassies. They provided an opportunity not only to raise funds but also to raise awareness.

Telephone Helpline The Telephone Helpline continued its services in the 3rd year since its inception. The Helpline with its contingent of eight volunteers handled 164 calls during the year. The volunteer strength declined this year resulting in the Helpline being manned by a single person per shift instead of the desired strength of two persons per shift. This year the volunteers were also given training to develop their skills to provide practical guidance and emotional support to cancer patients and care givers over the telephone.

In order to improve skills in public interaction and community activities, the Helpline volunteers actively participated in the cancer awareness campaigns in slums of Delhi.

Undesirable practices like quackery and misconceptions about cancer pervading in the community were discussed during the interaction. The Telephone Helpline has in fact developed into a platform for two-way communication between Cansupport and the society at large.

Helpline volunteers continued to participate in the quarterly meetings of Delhi Helpline Network. This helps the various telephone helplines in Delhi working in varied fields to exchange ideas and benefit from each other’s experiences.

During the year 2006-07 our Telephone Helpline worked from 10 am to 5 pm on Tuesdays, Thursdays and Saturdays.

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What CanSupport Does CanSupport provides • Information to patients and relatives faced with a diagnosis of cancer.

• Confidential counselling in a peer group setting and one to one.

• Home care through a professional multi-disciplinary palliative care team that offers free medical, nursing and emotional support to patients and their families who are trying to cope with advanced cancer in their own homes.

• A Day Care programme for people with cancer, including children under treatment.

• Free drugs, medical and nutritional aids to people who need them under the Home Care and Day Care programme.

• Telephone helpline provides information, referrals and emotional support to people affected by cancer.

All our services are free of cost.

Information Receiving news about a diagnosis of cancer can be distressing for the person involved and for that person’s family. At this time, the availability of factual information about cancer and its implications can allay fears, explode myths and provide options for treatment. CanSupport has information available about different cancers and their treatments.

Telephone Helpline The helpline currently operates five days a week and provides information, referrals as well as much needed emotional support to people affected by cancer.

Counselling CanSupport provides counselling in a group setting as well as one-toone. Drop-in meetings for people going through their cancer journey are held on the first Wednesday of the month and the third Wednesday of the month in Gurgaon. Those who wish to meet individually with a counsellor may fix an appointment over our telephone help line number 2671-1212.

that those who come spend an enjoyable and relaxed time. Currently, this facility is offered two times a week on Mondays and Fridays.

Transport is arranged for those who come.

Home Care Home is where most people want to remain when they are terminally ill. They want to be surrounded by their near and dear ones. The home care team of doctors, nurses and counsellors make this possible by visiting and caring for patients in their own homes.

Funds The care and commitment that CanSupport offers is made possible with the help it receives from individuals and organizations. We seek both financial and practical assistance, and regularly organise fund raising and awareness building activities to meet this requirement.

Day Care

Cheques should be made out to ‘CanSupport’ and mailed to our office at Kanak Durga Basti Vikas Kendra, Sector 12, R.K. Puram, Next to the CGHS Dispensary No.57, New Delhi 110 022. All donations to CanSupport are exempt from tax under section 80G of the IT Act, 1961.

CanSupport is also registered under the Foreign Contributions Regulation Act (FCRA).

Since October 2002, CanSupport has run a day care programme at its centre to provide relaxation and stimulation to adults and children with cancer, and also to provide group counselling and support to their families. The company of trained volunteers, good food and complementary therapies such as reflexology and aromatherapy ensure

CanSupport has been granted permission by the Ministry of Finance, Government of india to raise a Corpus Fund under Section 35A of the IT Act 1961. Those who donate for this purpose are entitled to 100% tax exemption. The cheques should be drawn in favour of “Corpus Fund for CanSupport”.

Milestones CanSupport is registered as a non-profit organization in the year 1996 to offer support and information to people distressed by a diagnosis of cancer.

1997-98 • CanSupport evaluates the need for a home based palliative care service for Delhi linked to the pain and palliative care clinic at the Institute Rotary Cancer Hospital (IRCH) AIIMS.

1998-99 • CanSupport/IRCH collaboration established as a result of the evaluation.

• A voluntary team of a nurse and counselor start the home care service, visiting 10 patients.

• A nurse and counselor are employed. They are sent for training to the WHO Palliative Care Training Centre at Calicut.

• CanSupport telephone helpline is launched.

20 patients at a time now receive home care in Delhi.

1999-2000 • Start-up grant received from the Tudor Trust, UK to fund the home care service for a year. First doctor recruited to join the home care team.

• A van is purchased for home care visits.

• The number of patients being visited by the team increases to 30.

• CanSupport opens an office at Shahpur Jat with a part-time administrator. This also serves as a base for the telephone helpline and the home care team.

• First Remembrance Day and lamp lighting

ceremony held for relatives in memory of home care patients. Lord Swaraj Paul and the British High Commissioner and Lady Catherine Young are the chief guests.

2000-01 • The Sir Dorabji Tata Trust, Mumbai, gives CanSupport a two year grant for salaries.

A second nurse and doctor and a full time administrator are employed. Two teams now care for about 50 patients at a time.

• A second-hand Maruti van is donated to CanSupport by Mr. & Mrs. Bhusnurmath.

• The home care team attends the Indian Association of palliative Care’s (IAPC) Annual International Palliative Care Conference at Bangalore.

• CanSupport joins the global “Voices for Hospices” fundraiser.

2001-02 • Professor Stephan Tanneberger, a palliative care expert from Italy, spends three weeks with CanSupport.

• ‘Profiles in Courage’ : An exhibition of photographs by the renowned photographer, Avinash Pasricha, is held at the British Council.

• The Home Care team receives its second Tata Sumo vehicle from the Rotary Club of Delhi, Safdarjung and the Rotary Club of Wilson, North Carolina, in the USA. • A doctor from the UK joins CanSupport, under the Voluntary Services Overseas (VSO) scheme. Another local nurse and doctor are also employed. The home care programme now has three doctors and three nurses.

• Ruth Wooldridge, who jointly pioneered the home care service with Harmala Gupta,

and served as a voluntary nurse on the home care team, leaves for the UK. • A three year strategic plan is drawn up under the guidance of a VSO management consultant.

• Remembrance Day is celebrated with the Lt. Governor of Delhi, Mr. Vijai Kapoor, as chief guest.

2002-03 • CanSupport holds its First Annual Foundation Course in Palliative Care in collaboration with the Institute Rotary Cancer Hospital. Nine doctors and 12 nurses attend. The British High Commissioner and Lady Young host a dinner to mark the event.

• Members of the home care team attend the Ninth International Conference of IAPC at Varanasi. They lead and participate in a session on bereavement counselling.

• CanSupport becomes a member of the Asia Pacific Hospice Association Network based in Singapore. Harmala Gupta, President of CanSupport, becomes a member of the International Association of Hospice and Palliative Care based in Houston, USA. • CanSupport holds two gala benefit events – a fashion show at the residence of the Belgian Ambassador and an evening of classical Indian instrumental music featuring Arun and Vinay Bharatram, both doyens of industry.

• The CanSupport-Jaypee Greens Invitational Golf Tournament is held.

• The Slum & JJ Department of the Municipal Corporation of Delhi allots CanSupport two rooms in South Delhi for a Day Care Centre.

• The Day Care Centre welcomes its first

patients. Volunteers offer companionship, good food and relaxation therapies.

• CanSupport participates in the national Cancer Awareness Day. • Harmala Gupta is interviewed by Tim Sebastian on BBC’s HardTalk.

• At the end of the year CanSupport appoints a Director for a year in line with the three year strategic plan.

2003-04 • The Public Service Broadcasting Trust commissions a film on palliative care in which CanSupport’s home care programme is highlighted. The film is telecast over the national TV network.

• Mallika Sarabhai and her troupe of dancers perform at the residence of the Belgian ambassador in aid of CanSupport.

• The Second Annual CanSupport/ IRCH Foundation Course in Palliative Care is held. International faculty participate. 50 doctors and nurses attend.

• The CanSupport-LG Invitational Golf Tournament is held at the Delhi Golf Club as a fundraiser.

• Collaboration with the Dharam Shila Cancer Institute & Research Centre starts.

Patients are referred to the home care team.

• A third palliative care team, funded by Pulse Medika, a unit of the Promed Group, is formed. The total number of patients now being looked after crosses 70.

• The Chief Minister of Delhi inaugurates the new CanSupport day care centre at Kanak Durga Basti Vikas Kendra allotted by the JJ & Slum Deptt of the MCD. • A new counsellor and two new doctors join the home care team.

• CanSupport receives a grant of 50,000

pounds from the Robert Gavron Charitable Trust in the U.K. • Gp. Capt. P. Bhatia is appointed Treasurer, CanSupport, to handle finances and HRD. • CanSupport participates for the third time in the global ‘Voices for Hospices’ event.

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2004-05 • CanSupport is invited to participate in the Annual Terry Fox Run held at the Canadian High Commission, New Delhi.

• The Third CanSupport/IRCH Foundation Course in Palliative Care is held at the All India Institute of Medical Sciences, in New Delhi.

• Dr. David Oliviere, Director, Education, at St. Christopher’s Hospice in South London, holds a workshop on family relationships and communication for the CanSupport home care team and volunteers.

• Dr. Brindha Sitaram, a psycho-oncologist from the Curie Centre of Oncology at Bangalore holds a workshop for the telephone helpline volunteers.

• A photographic exhibition, ‘Touching Lives: Reaching Out to People with Cancer’, with photographs by Barbara Hind, is inaugurated by the Ambassador of Mexico in India. A companion volume is also released, with a foreword by Mark Tully.

• The CanSupport Invitational Golf Tournament is held at the ITC Classic Golf Course.

• The number of patients being cared for touches 90.

• An administrative officer is appointed to assist the President.

• The telephone helpline for cancer starts operating.

• Two home care bases are set up in East and

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West Delhi thanks to sponsorships from Pfizer Ltd. and the Estate of Late Dr. Mary Badhwar.

Two doctors, two nurses, two counsellors and two office managers are recruited.

The Deputy High Commissioner for Britain and Mrs. Shawn Runacres host a gala benefit dinner for CanSupport at their residence.

CanSupport participates in various melas around the city and brings out greeting cards and a calendar sponsored by Canon India with photographs gifted by Ms. Jenny Carter.

A Diwali celebration is held for children and parents at the day care centre.

Rockland Hospital and CanSupport collaborate on a six-week information and support programme for people with cancer.

Barbara Hind’s photographic exhibition on CanSupport is displayed at the Nehru Centre in London. It is inaugurated by Lord Gavron, CBE. A fifteen minute film on CanSupport is shown at the Annual Conference of ‘Help the Hospices’ and the ‘U.K. Forum’ in London.

As the year ends, the number of patients being looked after by the home care teams touches 90.

The number of children attending the day care with their parents crosses 40.

2005-06 • CanSupport holds the Fourth Annual Foundation Course in Palliative Care together with IRCH. • Sr. Leonarda Lakra, a nurse on the home care team, receives an award from

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Macmillan Cancer Relief and the International Journal of Palliative Nursing in the U.K. Zuleikha Khan, a dancer from the U.S., brings the Storydancer Project to the CanSupport day care CanSupport gets its own license for oral morphine.

Home care numbers touch a new high of 130 patients.

Dr. Uma Nambiar is appointed as a parttime medical director to the home care programme.

CanSupport volunteers start bringing in out-of-town cancer patients temporarily resident in a local hostel to the day care.

CanSupport introduces a coffee “drop in” morning for people living with cancer at the India International Center.

CanSupport, in association with the World Health Organization and the Ministry of Health and Family Welfare, Government of India, organizes a seminar to mark “World Hospice and Palliative Care day” on October 8, 2005. A souvenir and a special postal cover are released. Zila Khan and Saeed Naqvi perform at the ‘Voices for Hospices’ concert to commemorate the day.

CanSupport bids farewell to Sr. Leonarda Lakra, one of our most experienced nurses on the home care team who leaves for Guyana.

2006-07 • Home care team attends the 13th International Conference of the Indian Association of Palliative Care (IAPC) in Chennai. Sr. Agnes presents a paper on handling family grief and bereavement.

• CanSupport holds its Fifth Annual

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Foundation Course in Palliative Care along with the Institute Rotary Cancer Hospital (IRCH). Dr. Barbara Monroe, CEO, St. Christopher’s Hospice, London, is invited as faculty and holds a special session on children and bereavement Dr. Mary Ann Muckaden, palliative care specialist from the Tata Memorial Cancer Hospital in Mumbai along with CanSupport trainer Ms. Meena Gupta leads a one-day introductory course for volunteers in palliative care. A number of voluntary organizations attend.

Ms. Ravinder Kaur Walia is appointed Director Projects at CanSupport.

Sr. Agnes Panikulam, a resource person and a counselor on the CanSupport home care team conducts a 3-day training programme for 15 CanSupport volunteers in April 06. This is held in response to the need to learn more about how to deal with psychological issues, including bereavement.

Sr. Sophiamma Sam, a nurse on the home care team gets selected for the “ Nursing Leadership Bursary” at St. Christopher’s Hospice, U.K. She is fortunate to be one of the only two nurses selected for this programme. During two months of training, she spends time with palliative care teams working in the rural coastal town.

Dr. Tulika Seth, Department of Haematology, AIIMS holds a workshop on childhood cancer at CanSupport.

Ms. Harmala Gupta, as a fellow of American Cancer

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Society University is invited to Washington DC to attend a training workshop as well as the UICC World Cancer Congress.

August 2006 marks the opening of a new satellite centre in Gurgaon, thanks to the generous support of KPMG and Bagri Foundation.

Setting Minimum Standards Workshop to develop guidelines is organised jointly with IAPC. The workshop is supported by the Ministry of Health & Family Welfare and WHO. Dr. DP Singh, a doctor on the home care team attends a Certificate Course in Palliative Medicine (BCCPM) run by the Pain and Palliative Care Society, Calicut.

Lok Sabha TV channel makes and telecasts a film on CanSupport as a part of their programme on Changemakers.

The second World Hospice and Palliative Care Day is held in October with a musical recital by the noted ghazal singer, Talat Aziz.

We organise a run for cancer awareness at the National Stadium on the occasion of the

Patient Data Our patients have a variety of cancers. The most common sites are head and neck, gall bladder, prostrate, pancreas, etc. Among the female population, breast and gynaecological malignancies are most common. In a few cases Year

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National Cancer Awareness Day on November 7. The event is supported by the Ministry of Health & Family Welfare and WHO. Remembrance day is celebrated in memory of the patients who were looked after by the home care team.

French Embassy organizes a fundraiser dinner in February. The proceeds go to CanSupport and Salam Balak Trust.

Members of the home care team attend the 14th International Conference of the Indian Association of Palliative Care (IAPC) in TMH, Mumbai.

CanSupport organizes the 6th Annual Foundation course in palliative care. A four days course covering the basic clinical course, advanced course for nurses and palliative care workshop for volunteers and social workers.

The year ends with a Zuleikha and Lola workshop on the “The Wellness Journey Through Healing Techniques for the Body and Mind” at the India International Centre.

it was not possible to identify the primary site.

Many patients suffer from leukemias, lymphomas, sarcomas, etc. but cancers of the head and neck region, breast and lung are by far the most common sites.

Brought Forward

New Patients

Deaths

Dropouts

Carried Over

1996-97

0

1

0

0

1

1997-98

1

22

11

6

6

1998-99

6

53

33

10

16

1999-00

16

148

104

27

33

2000-01

33

174

136

36

35

2001-02

35

138

113

25

35

2002-03

35

161

117

23

56

2003-04

56

221

181

35

61

2004-05

61

276

183

29

125

2005-06

125

316

231

83

127

2006-07

127

372

262

33

204

Types of cancer

Percentage

Head & Neck Lung Breast GI Malignancy Gynaecological Genito Urinary Haemopoietic Bone Tumour Others

0.26 % 0.14 % 0.08 % 0.20 % 0.13 % 0.06 % 0.06 % 0.03 % 0.04 %

A Patient’s Story Ravi Kumar Jain, 35 years old, was diagnosed with a rare form of nerve cancer in his thigh in 1995. Despite multiple surgeries, chemotherapy cycles and radiotherapy, the cancer spread to his abdomen and jaw. He suffered progressive weakening of his leg, loss of appetite and increasing weakness. When no possibility of a cure remained, drastic measures were recommended by the onco-surgeons, including amputation of his right leg. Ravi Kumar vehemently rejected this option.

Through regular visits by the home care team, which he said were the only bright spots in his life, Ravi and his entire family were supported through their enormous emotional pain and anxiety.

But his days were filled with excruciating pain and the nerve-wracking worry over the loss of his livelihood and its effects on his wife Neelam and school-going twins, eight years of age. As a small metal trader in Wazirpur, Ravi Kumar conducted all his business on his scooter. Riding the scooter became extremely difficult with his disfigured and painful leg. In addition, the painkillers he was given made him drowsy and slowed his reflexes, making it dangerous for him to drive through heavy traffic. With no cure to look forward to and no letting up of his financial woes, depression, pain and helplessness ruled his life.

It was at this point that Ravi was referred to CanSupport for management of his pain and other symptoms. Our multi-disciplinary home care team consisting of a doctor, nurse and counselor were able to procure Fentanyl skin patches for Ravi, which relieved his pain without causing drowsiness. Through regular visits by the home care team, which he said were the only bright spots in his life, Ravi and his entire family were supported through their enormous emotional pain and anxiety. CanSupport was able to find a kind benefactor, Mr. Lalit Parikh, who donated Rs. 10,000 to fit Ravi’s scooter with a third wheel to make it more stable, making it possible for him to carry on his business. Ravi’s wife Neelam was encouraged to apply to CanSupport’s nursing aide training programme and she has bravely taken up that challenge. And in this way, another family finds its dignity and hope once more.

Thank You Donors 2006-2007 CanSupport would like to thank the following individuals, corporates and trusts for their support up to the end of March 2006. This list includes our regular donors at the day care centre, as well as others who may have given in kind. We value every donation, sponsorship and gift we receive. It is never too small for us.

CORPORATES A K Nair & Co. Aashirwad Chemists Actis Advisors Pvt Ltd Alps Industries Limied Alstom Projects India Ltd Amakan Overseas (P) Ltd. Apparel International Sourcing Arkey Industries Ashurst Bharti Airtel Limited Bhayana Builders Pvt Ltd Bhayana Realtors Inc Blue Dolphin Canon India Pvt Ltd Cargill India Pvt Ltd Complete Dewatering System Pvt Ltd Consolidated Media Ltd Corporates DCM Shriram Industries Ltd Deutsche Bank Eastern Software System Pvt Ltd Fabindia Overseas Pvt Ltd Goenka Engg. & Industrial (P) Ltd HDFC Ltd Hero Honda Motors Limited Hero Motors Limited Hitech Capacitors Mfg. Co. Pvt Ltd ICON Sales Infres Methodex Limited Interads Advertising PvtLtd Italian Academy of Cuisine Jindal Stainless Ltd K Dhillon & Co KIC Food Products Pvt Ltd Kochhar & co Ktech Engineer Buildevs Co Pvt Ltd Kwality Caterers - the Village Lipi Data System Ltd M & M Machine Craft Pvt Ltd Mahindra Renault Private Limited Mahindra Store MFA Crucial Moment Health Care Pvt Ltd Milestones Switchgears Pvt Ltd New Delhi Medicos P P Rolling Mills Mfg. Co. P.Ltd Parikh Steel Pvt. Ltd. Pfizer Limited Prasad Heritage Projects Pvt Ltd Premier Exploration Services Pvt Ltd Promed Exports Pvt Ltd Rasha Impex Rolls Royce India Ltd S N International Shades of India Crafts Pvt.Ltd. Shiriram Pistons & Rings Ltd

Som Datt Builders Pvt Ltd SRF Limited Super Castors India Touchstone Real Estate Advisors Tropicana Enterprises Pvt. Ltd. Whirlpool of india Limited INDIVIDUALS A K Gurtu A Sekhon A. M. Vohra A. N. Katra A.K.Hazra Aashirwad Chemists Abhinav Sood Achala Kaul Adit & Soni Dave Aditi Mehra Aditya Arora Alishya Mehra Amita Baig Anil Jain Anila Banerji Anindita Datta Anisha Oberoi Anita Bhandari Anita Saran Anjali Bhan Kamtekar Anjali Ghate Anjali Singh Anjan Mukherji Anjana Bhan Annie Howard Anu Chadha Anupa Lal Anupauma Wanchoo Anuradha Mittal Arjun Singh Khandelwal Arun Gupta Arun Seth Aruna Bhandari Aruna Wadalia Arvind Kumar Gupta Ashish Bhatnagar Ashok K Nehru Ashwini Gautam B N Chandok Bala Kaul Barbara K Spring Basant Mullick Bengal Sweets Bhanu Seth Bharati Panda Bhaskaran Balakrishnan Bhavana Jindal Bhupinder Chowdhry

Bidhu K Mohanti Blessie Alejano Brij Thapar C Rolland Chandra Kant Khandelwal Charanjit Walia Chitdeep Kaur Randhawa Chitra Mehta D C Vaish D S Batra D.S. Batra D.V.Kapur Deepak Chopra Deepak Maheshwari Deepankar Sanwalka & Priti Sanwalka Dhun Daruwala Dimpy Kukreja Divya Shriram Doll Singh Dolly Randhawa Donald Peck & Lucy Peck Drums of Heaven Eley Mcainsh G Babu G K Singh G.K.Bhatnagar Ganesh Dutt Gureja Geeta Aggarwal Geeta Kapoor Geeta Tooley Geetu Advani Giovanna Armellini Gita Aggarwal Gita Bedi Gita Dang Gita Devi Gursamargit Singh Gursharan Singh H L Mundra Harbinder Bedi Harish Khosla Harish Pandeya Harmala Gupta Harpreet Kaur Harsha Kumar Agarwal (HUF) Harsimran Dutta Harsimran Malik HS Bedi I S Rana Individuals J Bhagwati J R Chhabra J.C. Sachdeva Jaya Kumar Jean Macfarlane Joginder Arora

Jyoti Sabharwal Jyoti Sarwal K D S Dhillon K. D. Madan Kamala Arora Kamla Arora Kapil Kapoor Karnal Dhillon Kaushik Dutta Kaveri Ganguly Kavita Pahalia Kiran Chadha Kiran Kalra Krishna Gupta Krishna Vasundhra Kulwant Kaur Kusma Rao L Agnihotri L.Raghavan & Mrs Padma Raghavan Lakshmi Subramanyam Lalita Devi Latika Khaneja Louise Lucy Salman M A Khan M M Khanna & Sons HUF M M Sabarwal M Suman Madhu Pathak Madhuri Bhatia Mahesh Kapoor Mala Chugh Malini Mundke Mamta Rana Maninder Kaur Manjari Kaul Manju Ahluwalia Manju Deshbir Singh Manju Rajpal Manju Raniwal Manju Rohatgi Manmohan Malhoutra Minoti Bahri Mira Batra Mithilesh K Lal, Sarla Jalan & Santosh Kumari Mohinder Nath Bhayana Mona Rao Monica Gupta Mr Rana Mr. Satish N Kumar Naata Mehta Nadira Chaturvedi Narender Chopra Navdeep Kaur

Naz M Siddigi Neelam Bala Neeti Vohra Nichoas J Demerath Nila Agnihotri Nilanjana Bose Nilima Chawla Nimmi Gupta Nirmala Kumar Nirmala Varghese Nisha Bhambhani Nishat Jaggi Nonika Bhatia Nripjit Singh Chawla O P Aggarwal P. Sahajpal Pam Hudson Pamela Nath Paramita Sen Gupta Pavindra Bhalla Pavlovic Pinky Kochhar Poonam Chandra Prabha Hoon Prakash Chawla Praveen Gurnani Preeti Jain Priya Batra Promila Shroff Purshotam Bhatia R C Bhayana R K Arora R. K. Puri Radha Nagpal Raghav Raj Bhalla Raj S Bakht Rajbir Chowdhry Rajeev Seth Rajen A. Parikh Rajni B Arora Rakesh Mathur Ram Rana Ranjana Kao Rashmi Shirali Rasil Basu Ravinder Kaur Ahluwalia Ravinder Walia Reeti Sahni Rewa Nanda Rob and Catherine Young Rohini Chaudhary Rohini Khullar Rupendra Singh Ruth Wooldridge S B Thapar

S K Gambhir S K Jain S Kumar S Venugopalan S. L. Mahajan Samarjit & Nina Singh Sanjay Sethi Sanjay Sharma Sanjeev Kumar Sanyog Aggarwal Saoyong Kim Saraha Walter Satish Saberwal Satpal Singh Satyapal Ratti Satyawati Agarwal Savitri Vohra Savitri Vohra Shan Singh Shanta Gupta Shanta Kapoor Shanta Sheopuri Shanti Kandiah Sheila Sehgal Shibani Chawla Shikha Mehra Shikha Vohra Shireen Jain Shobha Nehru Shormila Mukherjee Shukla Malhotra Sidharth Gupta Sidhartha Shanker Bhowmick Sonoko Mitsui eyer Srishti P Nigam Suchitra Chakraverty Sudeep Kaur Sudha Arora Sue Varvel Sumara Brahman Sunetta Khanna Sunil Nehru Suresh Kumar Suresh Upadhyay Surinder Raina Sushma Ali Swaraj Sarin Swarn Rajpal T. R. Sharma T.R. Katra Tashi Dolma Tejinder Kataria Tiplut Nongbri U Ogg Urvashi Dhamija Urvashi Jain

Urvi Puri Usha Batra Usha Choudhari Usha Luthra Investment Memorial Foundation Usha Mongia Usha Ohri V Kochupillai V.N.Kapur/Usha Kapur Vandana Chawla Vasantha Anantharaman Vatsala Sivasubramanian Veena Singh Vimal K Mehta Vinod Dhameja Yogesh Jain Yogyata Khullar TRUSTS / FOUNDATIONS ADI American Cancer Society American Womens Association Assosiation of the Friends of St Martin B P Matching Fund Bagri Foundation Bodh Raj Sawhny Memorial Trust British Contact Group Caledonian Society of India CanAssist Society Charities Aid Foundation India Church of Immaculate Conception Davenham Chapel Delhi Area Benevolent Fund Society Estate of the late Dr.Mary Badhwar External Affairs Spouses Association Charitable Trust French Embassy Help the Hospices IAHPC Kesar Kamla Charitable Trust KPMG Foundation Mataji Melan Devi Society Narotam Sekhsaria Foundation Nav Bharat Smarak Nidhi Oxford University Press India Peter Stebbings Memorial Charity Punjabi Sahit Sabha R C Malhotra Foundation Trust Rajeshwar Susheela Dayal Charitable Trust T Punam Chand Jain Charitable Trust Thames Hospicecare The Shri Ram School The Tom & Sheila Springer Charity Usha Luthra Investment Memorial Foundation World Health Organisation India

TREASURER’S REPORT

PROGRAMME EXPENSES

REVENUE

INVESTMENT & NET FIXED ASSETS

PROGRAMME V/S OPERATING EXPENSES (including administrative staff salary)

Revenue, Investments and Net Fixed Assets One of our key strategic objectives is to raise funds for the continuation and expansion of services. The net contribution raised during the year was Rs 1.11 crore. Our investments and net fixed assets now stand at Rs 240.95 lakh (depicted graphically below).

Surplus income added was Rs 45.83 lakh during the fiscal year ended March 31, 2007.

Programme and Operating Expenses The diagrams indicate the trend in programme expenditure over the years.

Programme expenses continue to include salaries for the home care teams along with expenses incurred on homecare (including transportation costs and medicines), daycare, telephone helpline, drop in and training.

Operating expenses include salaries for administrative staff, security expenses, costs of printing and stationery, electricity and water, consultancy, telephone and the repair and maintenance of the office. A comparison of programme expenses against operating expenses is also depicted in one of the graphs.

Our audited statement of accounts for 2006-07 is available on request. We remain ever grateful to our auditors M/s Khanna & Annadhanam for their advice on statutory issues.

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1

years of caring

Annual Report 2006-07

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