Save Childhood Cancer Survivors Programs
EXECUTIVE SUMMARY
Save Childhood Cancer Survivors Program
Introduction
According to research carried out by the American National Cancer Institute, 13,400 children among the ages of birth and 19 years end up being diagnosed with cancer. One in every 300 boys and one in every 333 girls shall develop cancer before reaching their 20th birthday. Estimations show that 25% of all the children diagnosed with cancer die, and it has been established that cancer is now officially the number-one child killer disease in America.
One would be happy to know that at least there is still a 75% survival rate. This however is not cause for celebration. This is because 74% of these survivors have chronic illnesses and of these 40% will end up dying.
The Save Childhood Cancer Survivors is a project established by our institution to try and save these 40% child cancer survivors. The institution recognizes that most child cancer survivors parent spend a lot of money in the treatment of cancer and therefore have a hard time trying to foot hospital bills that may come later as a result of chronic illnesses. This means that if a parent cannot pay for better health care for their child, the child will die eventually.
Our project main aim is to ensure that these children get quality and affordable healthcare from our facility. This is achieved through the provision of in and out patient services to the children. Most of our out patient patients need proper medication as well as home care services provided for by our nurses. However, our main concern is the in patient patients who need hospitalization. Not only do we need hospital equipment such as beds but also medical staff and personnel, medication and nutrition to be able to take care of these children.
Target population
Our project as earlier mentioned targets childhood cancer survivors who unfortunately end up with chronic illnesses. This is because cancer is a very expensive ailment to treat thus most families that are able to come up with the money for a complete cure are left with little or no money at all. These families are hardly capable of paying more money for the treatment of terminal diseases that come in the aftermath of the cancer, yet, these children need that health care for them to survive the cancer aftermath.
Benefits of the program
The program aims to help these children get better healthcare at an affordable price. Better health care ensures that the children end up surviving the chronic illnesses that present themselves after the cancer.
By saving these children, the program indirectly saves the family not only the cost that they would have incurred while seeking treatment for their children but also the expenditure that they would have had should the child have died. However, indirectly, our program has helped reduce the number of fatalities of children that die in the aftermath of cancer.
For the successful running of this program, many healthcare givers need to be involved. More doctor, nurses, and healthcare givers get employment to facilitate the smooth running of the program; this means that many healthcare givers achieve employment to be able to provide maximum service to these children.
Cost or budget justification
Apart from the cost the hospital incurs by lowering the cost of the healthcare given to these patients, other costs have to be met to ensure the success of our program. Such expenses include medication costs because mere diagnosis of the illness will not help them.
The health care givers have to be paid. Because we run a successful out patient program, there is a large and extensive network of home caregivers involved who take care of the patients that choose to home treatment. These caregivers as well as part-time nurses and doctors need to be paid.
The in patient patients need hospital beds. This is because these patients need monitoring at all times. Since the hospital still has to admit other patients, there is need for more hospital room and bedding.
The cost of maintaining a hospitalized terminal patient is also high. This is because they need to eat well-balanced nutritional food so that they gain their health.
Hospital equipments also need to be available to be able to provide quality assistance to these patients. These equipments vary from big machines to small instruments needed in a hospital setting.
Basis upon which the program shall be evaluated
Our projects evaluation bases on its impact on not only the community but on the nation. The reaction of the survivors we manage to save is sufficient to keep us going.
The level of participation of all stakeholders, both those who volunteer and those that are paid and the time and energy they put into the project is heart warming.
The participation of the people our program has reached as well as the reactions of not only these children or their families is priceless to our program.
Communication to upper management
In most hospital, staff meetings are usually large; therefore, one cannot get the opportunity of presenting their proposal. This is because among other things to many pressing matters at hand that need to be addressed therefore, I would send and e-mail or a personal letter with all my researched ideas as well as supporting materials to upper management. Sending an e-mail ensures that the idea is brought to the management’s attention. This is because of the growing reliability on electronic media by the society.
Motivation
An intrinsically motivated person is one that performs a certain activity because it gives them pleasure doing so, they want to develop a particular skill, or morally, it is the right thing to do. One the other hand an extrinsically motivated person is one that performs a task due to external unrelated factors the activity such as money and fame or recognition.
An intrinsically motivated person can be motivated by making sure that what they enjoy working on is not only made available to them but that they are aware that it is much fun working on that project. This constantly centers their attention on the project.
An extrinsically motivated person on the other hands needs motivation by setting up goals and rewards that challenge that person, recognizing and complementing that person.
Characteristics of a performance-driven team
Have strong team leadership
This means that for a team to work efficiently the leaders have to be effective. Strong leadership can be felt by all members and therefore cannot be challenged. If the leaders of any given team are motivated, this translates to the members, which in turn ensures harmony in the team. Strong leadership always looks after the best interests of its members and the project they are working on.
Have clear roles and responsibilities
A good team is one that has all its members’ roles and responsibilities clearly outlined. This ensures that members do not perfume each other’s duties. This ensures harmony in the team.
Develops a strong sense of “united” trust and confidence
If each member of a team is confident in the project assigned to the team, then the work of the team is cut out for them.
Manages and optimizes performance outcomes
A good team manages its performance outcome by ensuring that they set goals that they can achieve easily. This ensures that the team members give their best performance.
Having clear, valued, and shared visions
If the team members have a common or shared goal then work gets done in a proper and meticulous work. Clarity is essential for teamwork so that all members are aware of the different roles they play in ensuring the achievement of their common goal.
Communication
A proper team is one that has a clear and respected communication channel. This ensures that there is communication not only by members to each other but also by members to their leaders and vice-versa.
