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Adult Day Care Activities
Fridays are reserved for the adult daycare. Out-of-town patients and their care givers, who have to stay in a local dharamshala (akin to a dormitory) during the long course of treatment, frequently feel isolated and lonely. They miss the family left behind, as well as the community support they are used to relying upon in the villages or towns from where they come. This is where CanSupport’s day care volunteers play a helpful role.
Our volunteers pick up patients and their caregivers every Friday from the dharamshala and bring them to the daycare. Here they spend time with them, share their pain and joy, talk and laugh with them and befriend them. They are also offered a relaxing foot or hand massage, aromatherapy or more traditional alternative healing practices such as yoga and meditation. It is an enjoyable interlude for patients and care givers and provides a break from their stressful routine. After a nutritious home cooked meal they go back feeling relaxed and cared for, having spent a pleasant day out at the daycare.
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Children’s Day Care Activities
Every Monday, our volunteers collect children who are under treatment for cancer, as well as their parents, from the Institute Rotary Cancer Hospital (IRCH) at AIIMS and bring them to the daycare in R. K. Puram. The youngsters play, listen to stories or songs and enjoy drawing and craft activities under the guidance of our talented and committed volunteers. The parents use the opportunity to discuss their anxieties and concerns with our volunteers, who are trained in empathetic listening skills, as well as with fellow caregivers. They are able to draw strength from the experiences and advice shared in the supportive environment of the daycare centre. Children and adults alike enjoy a delicious snack before they return to the hospital for their appointments. Festivals and special occasions are also celebrated throughout the year in the daycare with great verve and gusto.
Child patients having fun at a day care session at a CanSupport Area Centre
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Day Care Celebrations
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- On Friday March 6, 2009, patients, many of whom were spending their first Holi away from home, which may be a village in Bihar and UP, sang and danced with gay abandon to the sound of the dholak. This was followed by the application of the traditional tikka with colourful gulal on the forehead. It was a joyous occasion for all.
- On March 9, it was the turn of the children who come to the day care centre on Mondays to celebrate. First, the volunteers explained to them the significance of Holi, after which they played to their heart’s content, not with colours or with water but with fragrant and colourful flowers.
- It was a delight to watch the children forget about their illness and get into the spirit of the event. The small lawn was a riot of colourful petals that morning!
- The celebration was also attended by employees of Promed Exports Pvt. Ltd, a company that has been a long-time supporter of our work, and by students from Fostiima Business School who often volunteer with CanSupport.
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International Children’s Day
On Monday, the 1st of June, International Children’s Day, regular visitors to our daycare –children under treatment for cancer and their parents – were in for a treat: an outstanding dance recital by four young disciples of Sharon Lowen, a world renowned Odissi dancer. Odissi is an Indian classical dance form from the eastern state of Orissa. This was the first time that the parents and their children were seeing a live performance. As one of them remarked, “The only dance performances we see are on TV. This is a whole new experience for us.”
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| Disciples of Sharon Lowen giving an Odissi dance performance at the CanSupport Day Care |
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| Harmala, President, CanSupport at the Day Care |
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