Two Worlds Cancer Collaboration

Rix Family Foundation funding has contributed to every aspect of Two Worlds Cancer Collaboration, amounting to $1.45 million over 10 years (2014-24), demonstrating the power of secure support to bring about sustainable health care change with a lasting impact for patients and their families.

Rix Family Foundation funding which began in 2014 and was directed to supporting and developing the Hyderabad Centre for Palliative Care in India:

Hyderabad, India: 14 December 2010 – in the pediatric ward at MNJ Hospital, Hyderabad. Photo Credit: Chuck Russell/Two Worlds: Cancer Collaboration

Securing dedicated and committed leadership – A funded personal Chair in Palliative Medicine for Dr Gayatri Palat, Director of the Hyderabad Centre for Palliative Care (HCPC), and part-time, funding support for a program executive assistant in India

Building depth of professional capacity through curriculum development, interdisciplinary education programs for generalist and specialist palliative care, internships, fellowships, publications, and presentations

Ensuring program development to include adult and children’s in-patient wards, mobile clinics, rural community outreach, and home-based care, including staffed mobile vans, a 24/7 telephone “hot-line” and a 28-bed hospice

Expanding program scale through government-funding of 330 new palliative care beds in repurposed community centres in all 31 districts of Telangana, all linked digitally with the Hyderabad Centre to create a state-wide palliative care network

Hyderabad, Telangana, India — 04 February 2020 — Two Worlds Cancer volunteer Camara Van Breemen, a nurse practitioner at Canuck Place, assesses pediatric fellow Dr Mohammed Ishaq as his palliative care home visit team attends pediatric patients in Hyderabad. Photo credit: Chuck Russell/Two Worlds Cancer

Expanding program scope to include pediatric and adolescent palliative care through an in-patient ward at MNJIO, a consulting service to Nilofer Children’s Hospital and to the Nilofer Children’s Hospital neonatal ICU all initially funded by a 1-time Rix Foundation grant, with subsequent development into the Sunflower Pediatric Palliative Care Program and Network serving India, Nepal, Bangladesh, Sri Lanka, Bhutan and the Philippines

Supporting Infrastructure for video conferencing: video conference room, IT support, and software licenses

Establishing Project ECHO online education series in adult, pediatric and humanitarian palliative care, led by local and global faculty and attended by healthcare providers from South and Southeast Asia, East Africa, and Eastern Mediterranean Region

Initiating an oral cancer screening and early detection project in Telangana, Indi. Although readily preventable and curable, oral cancer in South Asia is a major cause of death in both men and women. Oral cancer is challenging to provide pain relief effectively and results in considerable distress, pain, stigma, isolation and often destitution.