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Mary Alex (nurse-counselor)
Mary Alex has worked with CanSupport for eight years as a nurse counselor. Prior to that, she had worked in a number of hospitals but had not felt fully satisfied. After joining CanSupport she says that she was struck by the strength and resilience of the cancer patients she looked after. She speaks of trying to help empower them so that they can better face the future. Her greatest motivation continues to come from the patients and families who shower their thanks and blessings on the team.
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Saramma George (nurse)
Saramma George trained as a nurse in Kerala. She was working in a nursing home in Delhi when she heard about CanSupport from a friend and colleague. She says she was fascinated by the stories she heard of patients and their struggles and wanted to become a part of the helping team. She joined CanSupport not long after and speaks movingly of the “reality of pain” that many cancer patients face and the ability of palliative care to help relieve this pain. She is “very satisfied” to be a part of a palliative care team that can ensure this kind of relief. |
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Rugmini P (nurse)
Rugmini says that the first time she read about palliative care, in a newspaper article, she was drawn to it. After moving from Jaipur (where she was trained as a nurse) to Delhi, therefore, her first thought was to work with CanSupport. Her experiences since then, she says, have exposed her both to the pain and suffering that patients endure as well as to how palliative care can help. She describes herself as “very happy” being able of the home care team. |
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Shashi Dass (nurse)
Shashi Dass originally trained in Delhi as a nurse and came to CanSupport after hearing about the ‘special work’at CanSupport. She speaks of loving the work because of all the patients she gets to meet. For her, patients are at the center of what she does; they provide the motivation that keeps her going as she travels with the team on the roads in the heat and dust of Delhi. |
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Balvinder Kaur (counselor)
Balvinder Kaur comes from Delhi and has worked hard over the years to make the lives of families living in Delhi easier. Having worked with the urban poor, she knows the importance of health awareness and of providing a caring listening ear. In her words, “I thought I should do something different to help people in a more meaningful way.” It was then that she learned about CanSupport and joined the team. She says that she is deeply satisfied and feels blessed when families thank her. |
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Charanjeet Kaur (counselor)
Charanjeet Kaur says that she thinks that palliative care “is a very good approach to keeping in touch with reality and responding to it.” She speaks about the need to meet families where they are, and to lend a helping hand as and when needed. She says that the experience of being able to help is extraordinarily gratifying. Like Balvinder, she talks about the sense of satisfaction she gets when, as a member of the palliative care team, she is able to make patients comfortable and happy.
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Pallika (counselor)
Before coming to CanSupport, Pallika worked for eleven years in an organization doing community work. She moved to CanSupport because of her desire for personal growth. She says: “I had a keen interest in working with cancer patients. I know [and have learnt more] about the reality of life [by working with them]. I love to do this work because of the blessings I receive from patients. These have become very important to my life.”
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Ashish Samuel Soloman (counselor)
Ashish has a smile that fills up a room. He says he feels especially alive when he is able to help and lighten another person’s burden. When asked what brought him to CanSupport, he says: “…through CanSupport I can serve people and share their sorrow, grief and problems…I am very much satisfied [when I can do this.” |
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Vidya Thakur (nurse)
Vidya Thakur has been a nurse since 1969. To quote her: “I was trained in the army and this made me very disciplined. I graduated in nursing from IGNOU and did a specialty in orthopedic nursing and community nursing. My interest to learn more about life brought me to CanSupport.” Since then, she has been motivated by the realization that palliative care can ease physical and mental pain and help people face death. Vidya Thakur has written a training manual for nursing assistants. |
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Miniamma John (nurse)
The word that Miniamma John uses is “energized.” This energy seems to extend to every aspect of her work; whether it is sitting in on home care team meetings, lending an ear to patients’ problems or offering services to alleviate pain and distress. The blessings she receives from patients she says “makes me energized and satisfied and I want to help more and more people.” |
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Savita Luka (nurse-counselor)
“After providing our services to patients we leave them with a smile on their faces.” To Savita, this is the core of the work she does at CanSupport. She is a nurse with a Diploma in Nursing from Delhi who goes out of her way to assist people who need an extra helping hand. Whereever she has worked she has become a leader: as a project coordinator and as a nursing supervisor. She has for over ten years nursed patients with tuberculosis and HIV/AIDS and has served as a much needed counselor and research nurse. |
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Shashi Chandra (nurse)
Shashi Chandra pours her energy into caring for patients. She has worked both in day care and in home care and has a great sensitivity to the needs of the patients she works with. As she says, “I have lost two of my own daughters, so I feel attuned to the patients.” She talks about finding peace in her job at CanSupport as she feels that as a member of the palliative care team she can make a difference. She writes of being inspired by “cancer patients whom I am working with; they give me strength.”
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Pratik Banerjee (doctor)
Dr. Banerjee speaks of his motivation in caring for patients as: “trying to keep patients as comfortable as possible in their terminal phase of life.” He says that while sometimes it can be a difficult task it is also extraordinarily rewarding. For him palliative care is “more intriguing than any other specialty.” |
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Avinash Meshram (doctor)
Dr. Avinash Meshram speaks of the ability to draw from ones own experience and knowledge and use it to help others. As a doctor he says there is great comfort in being able to use ones skills to relieve people’s pain in a very tangible way. His motivation is both professional and personal. His own father is completely bedridden and his mother also suffers from a number of ailments; he knows the difficulties families face firsthand. Consequently, he says: “I feel comfortable with the families I serve and it gives me great solace to solve their problems.” |
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Dr. Ravinder Mohan (doctor)
Dr. Mohan has been a doctor since 1976. He has worked with national and international institutions such as the Indian army, the World Health Organization and innovative community based projects. According to Dr. Mohan what he loves about his work is that he can still care for those who cannot be cured; he calls it “food for the soul”.. He wants to share share the stories of his patients who fight so bravely with their disease till the very end. He has a special ability to see the beauty in people and his smile helps to draw it out. |
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Mini Sebastian (nurse)
Mini Sebastian recounts “After starting my work with the home-care team, meeting with patients and relatives, listening to their problems, understanding their pains, I realized [I was more in touch with] real life.” Mini Sebastian speaks of her work as a great opportunity not only to help patients, but also to receive back understanding and strength from them. Mini Sebastian says that she has come to understand that sometimes “we cannot add days to our patients [lives] but assuaging pain [can add] life to their days.” |
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Sanghamitra Bora (doctor)
“Before joining CanSupport I was working as a medical officer in a organization that was involved in community health awareness. It was there that I actually realized the magnitude of the medical problems that the community faces, especially the lower socioeconomic class” says Dr. Bora. Working with CanSupport for her was the next logical step as she was looking for an organisation that was providing holistic care. She considers herself lucky to have got the chance to serve patients with terminal cancer and says that the satisfaction she derives from seeing a smile on the faces of her patients is her main driving force |
