Monday, September 03, 2007 There is more to Memphis than Elvis By Mae Concepcion J. Dolendo, MD
MEMPHIS, Tennessee in the US is home to Elvis Presley, the undisputed King of Rock and Roll. Every year, during the week surrounding his death anniversary on August 16, fans from all over world commemorate the milestones in the life of this man dedicated to rock and roll music.
All roads lead to Graceland, a sprawling 14-acre property in Memphis that is testament to the life and music of Elvis Presley.
A few miles down this same road, lies another monument -- this time, for children with cancer all over the world. It has been the beneficiary of Elvis Presley's generosity -- in life and beyond.
This place is a fulfillment of a promise by the entertainer Danny Thomas to build a shrine for St Jude, Patron Saint of Desperate Causes. Its vision is to save every child with catastrophic illness.
The St Jude Children's Research Hospital (SJCRH) is nearing realization of this vision in the 40 years of its existence.
Considered the premier world center for children with cancer, children with leukemia have a 95% survival at St Jude and almost 80 percent in all other childhood cancers, a success they want to share with the rest of the world.
The SJCRH International Outreach Program has 16 partner sites all over the world. The most recent is Davao Medical Center in Davao City.
Together with Singapore, it is the first partner site in Southeast Asia and aims to provide a beacon of hope for children with cancer in this part of the world.
The St Jude/NUH-Davao Twinning project aims to improve survival rates of children with cancer through technology transfer, training and increasing organizational capacity. St Jude trains a multidisciplinary team of doctors, nurses and support staff in Singapore through the National University Hospital and at SJCRH in Memphis.
A weekly meeting on Horizon Live provides continuing education for the pediatric Medical/Surgical/Nursing team. Horizon Live is a novel learning tool using the internet facility and hooks the Davao partner site to cancer experts from all over the world.
The DMC team also utilizes Cure4kids, the St Jude educational resource which provides lectures, free medical journals and online courses for its pediatric oncology nurses. All these efforts are geared towards providing better treatment for children with cancer, especially the indigent.
Recently, the Davao partner site launched House of Hope, a transient home for children with cancer aimed at providing better accommodations for kids with cancer and their families, decreasing treatment abandonment and infection rates, and hopefully improving survival for these young patients.
This is a project of the Rotary Club of Waling Waling Davao through the help of private individuals.
Saving the child with cancer is not an easy feat. However, with the help of St Jude and the unwavering local community support, nothing is impossible.
The St Jude/NUH-Davao twinning partnership is made possible through the Davao Children's Cancer Fund Inc.
