KYTHE DOES COMPASSION AT ITS BEST
The work of Kythe Foundation Inc. is compassion at its best. Founded in 1992 by Fatima Lorenzo and Carmen Castro, it aims to give hope to children with cancer and other chronic illnesses “through simple sharing and togetherness.” (The word Kythe is Scottish and means “to manifest.”) It is the only non-government agency that gives psycho-social support to children with chronic illnesses like cancer, hemophilia and lupus. In 1998, Kythe adopted a child life program to include all pediatric patients with the program to be done in affiliated hospitals. In Cebu, Kythe is based in the Cancer Institute of Perpetual Succour Hospital.
Kythe came to Cebu in March 2008 with Shalom Bernales as Kythe’s child life officer for the Visayas and Mindanao. With her are Maria Hessa Egot and Juliet May Labra as child life coordinators. To be with Kythe one “should have a background in children like a degree in child psychology or experience in support groups.”
Bernales explains Kythe’s mission as “to implement programs to inspire and uplift the spirits of children hospitalized in chronic diseases through a child life program that provides psycho-social support to the child and his/her family when the child undergoes a medical procedure. We will do this through our expertise in child life service and in collaboration with the partner hospital, medical professionals and volunteers. The aim of this is to inspire hope and improve the quality of life for hospitalized children suffering from cancer and other chronic illnesses.”
Right now, Kythe Cebu has about 110 children under its program, the youngest being only six months old.
“Play. Educate and prepare the children. Tend to emotional needs of the child and family. Assist during medical procedures. Lend medical assistance and Support parental involvement.” So, Kythe personnel and volunteers are with the sick child during the medical procedure and visit the children at their bedside, to tell a story or play a board game or teach a craft. The children are given time to play in a playroom (Kyle’s Playroom) designed for them. To keep the children’s hopes high, Kythe initiates activities like a survivors’ day, a teens’ day, a celebrate life party, a santacruzan, a day camp and a trick-or-treat Halloween experience. Social activities like these are very important for the children who mostly have limited contact with other children, especially if they cannot go to a regular school so they will not be exposed to other diseases.
Kythe personnel and volunteers often become close not just to the child undergoing treatment but also to his/her parents and sometimes, also with the siblings. Occasionally, they get to know the other problems confronting the family of the sick child. So it is an emotional high when a patient “graduates” from his/her treatment but it is also very draining emotionally, when a patient is lost. When they are emotionally drained, Kythe personnel and volunteers go out, eat, roam around, watch a movie, anything to ward off the heavy weight on their emotions.
The very laudable work of Kythe cannot be done by the non-profit foundation alone. So it conducts training seminars for volunteer workers and sponsors retreats/seminars for the volunteers and medical staff. If one cannot be a volunteer but wants to help, one can sponsor a summer camp, a kite flying day, a family day, a sport activity or a Christmas activity. Or one can be a donor. In Cebu, a big fundraising event for the past several years has been SM’s Christmas Village of Hope of Joji Tugonon.
A Kythe donor believes that “every child has the right to learn, play and grow even while confined in the hospital.”
(We enhance the) quality of life of pediatric patients and their families through the ‘Petals’ method. KYTHE FOUNDATION INC.