Changemakers June '00

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Children

"Healthy children have the sun
reflected in a puddle as big as an
ocean, a stick which can be bent to
make a bow, pebbles jumping like
ducks on the surface of water . . . They
have their courtyards, shelters in
brushwood and hills for sledding.
Illness, and especially staying in
in hospital, results in that one of the
fundamental needs of children, the need
to move, is unsatisfied. It is very difficult to
satisfy the need under
hospital conditions. What
makes the situation yet worse is the stress
brought about by
separation from family
environment, fear of medical

procedures and strangers appearing now and again, fear of long, lonely nights.
"One-ear hares, shabby teddy-bears and ragged dolls have dried up oceans
of tears, have listened to litanies of complaints whispered at night,
have helped endure needlepricks.
"A toy in the hospital is an isle of happiness in the sea of despair, a scent of home,
a bridge connecting a hospital bed with a beloved courtyard.
"It is a medicine, sometimes better than pills or injections, with no adverse side effects."
– Ela Pomaska

Pomaska has worked to transform children's oncology wards in Poland into nurturing environments for sick children rather than cold, barren institutions. Toys can be a powerful stimulus, helping a child momentarily forget his or her illness to experience the normal childhood they once had before illness interrupted it.

	Perhaps the largest challenge hospitalized children face is the boredom they experience while waiting hours and often days for treatments inside lifeless hospital rooms and hallways.

	Hospital roomates Maciek and Peter hurry back to reading automobile magazines as soon as doctors leave their room at Warsaw's Institute of Mother and Child.	Piotr reacts curiously as doctors and nurses visit his roomate, Maciek Pozycki, also age 12.


Professor Wojtek Vosniak performs a routine post-operation examination Warsaw Institute of Mother and Child's Department of Oncology, which he directs. Vosniak is one of the most respected children's cancer specialists in Poland. He specializes in a rare bone cancer, and is especially known for his outstanding rapport with children.	Patricia, 18, awaits surgery on her leg at the National Institute of Mother and Child in Warsaw. Although doctors successfully removed her cancer, ongoing post-operation complications left doctors no choice but to amputate the limb.

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Almost ten years after its inception, the foundation's Warsaw center looks radically different than it did during its first few years of operation. Now, the foundation's well-lit, spacious halls gives families a place to relax in a supportive living environment when they live far from the hospitals, travelling from remote areas of the region to obtain medical services in one of Warsaw's four oncology treatment centers.

Each night, an average of 23 parents and children inhabit the foundation's brightly colored rooms. For some, their stay is short, lasting only several weeks; for others, the foundation is home for five to seven years.

In addition to providing accommodation, the foundation is equipped with a rehabilitation facility, library, computer room, and kitchen, as well as recreational resources, including a piano and ping-pong table so that children have access to play and educational activities while waiting for, or recovering from, treatments. Staffed by a committed team of nurses and social workers, the foundation provides a range of services, from math tutoring for children undergoing treatment to financial counseling for their parents.

They create a warm, an immensely comfortable hospitable environment for the children and their families during the stress and ordeal of cancer treatment. With help from community volunteers, the foundation's staff organizes picnics, concerts, and other events throughout the year to bring together children, parents, doctors, and community leaders.