CPAA website is renamed www.cancer.org.in : In line with nomenclature used by major NGOs worldwide, Cancer Patients Aid Association's website has now been renamed www.cancer.org.in . You can access the website using both addresses for the present.

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Participation in PEDUROCON 2009 (International Conference on Paediatric Urology): Susmita Mitra organised the inaugural invocation by childhood cancer patients on 19th September. Dr. Shubha Maudgal presented a talk on psyco-social aspects.

Twinning Programe with Cachar Cancer Hospital and Research Centre, Silchar-Letter of appreciation: "We are writing this to thank Cancer Patients Aid Association (CPAA) for having visited us and conducted a thorough and intensive workshop in psycho-oncology (23-27 August). The participants (staff of the hospital, students and volunteers) felt that it was a well structured workshop giving them all the basics in counseling patients and their family members and preparing them well to serve as volunteers. We felt it was a very good starting point to add the psycho-oncological component formally in our service setting and it has provided the impetus to build a strong volunteer work force so important in a hospital like ours run by an NGO and needing community participation especially in preventive oncology and in supporting patients. We intend to continue organizing the workshop once every quarter and to involve volunteers extensively in our work.

We are also very glad that as a follow-up to the workshop, one of our staff, Mr. Debabrata Dutta visited the CPAA and was hosted by you for a week (18 - 26th September). It is very clear from the staff’s report that the week was filled with meaningful activities that provided exposure to a number of health care settings, ideas and how to apply what CPAA taught our volunteers effectively.

We appreciate this association with CPAA. We are thankful to you for all your support and we will continue to work with you in providing holistic care to patients and their families."

Sincerely,
Dr. Ravi Kannan - Director, Cachar Cancer Hospital and Research Centre, Silchar 788015

National Cancer Rose Day 2009: 22nd September is a day conceived and ear-marked by CPAA to bring cheer, happiness and smiles to cancer patients all over the country. This annual event is a gesture from the association to show its support and care to thousands of cancer patients and their families.

19th September: The celebrations this year kicked-off in Mumbai with a musical evening 'Awaz Ki Duniya' by Ashok Hande, to entertain 600 cancer patients and their families,  at Yashwant Natya Mandir, Matunga. Actors Poonam Dhillon and Tara Sharma, singer Shibani Kashyap, acclaimed percussionist Taufiq Qureshi along-with his wife Geetika Qureshi were present at this event.

21st September: This was followed by a Helicopter ride for little cancer patients was organised by Pawan Hans Helicopters Limited. The children were taken to the airport in an open bus via the newly-opened Bandra-Worli sealink. Actors Suniel Shetty, Mahima Choudhary and Shreyas Talpade along-with Subir Das from Pawan Hans cheered them on as they took this exciting trip. This day also saw the launch of IVR Online Donation Solutions created by ATOM for CPAA. It enables a donor to make credit-card contribution by simply dialling o22-67237667 / 40366867 / 26814367 from their mobile.

22nd September: Roses and gifts were distributed to cancer patients at over 50 different cancer treatment centers, lodges, hospitals and dharamshalas through our Mumbai, New Delhi, Pune and Chennai offices.

Mumbai: Tata Memorial Hospital, Wadia Hospital, B.Y.L. Nair Hospital, Bharat Seva Sangh – Vashi, ACTREC – Kharghar, Bombay Hospital, Cama & Albless Hospital, P.D.Hinduja Hospital, Indian Cancer Society, J.J.Hospital, Jaslok Hospital, Nanavati Hospital, Prince Ali Khan Hospital, S. L. Raheja Hospital, Sion Hospital, Shanti Avedana Ashram and many more opened their doors to volunteers and social workers from CPAA to spread some Rose-Day cheer.

Pune: Hotel Sargam, hosted a party for the patients who were treated to a fun-filled evening thanks to the efforts of the sponsors Cybage Software Pvt. Ltd., Glenmark Pharmaceutical Ltd., Mapro, Hotel Sargam, Hotel Panchratna, Hindustan Coco-Cola and Heeralalbhai Shah.

New Delhi: Rose Day celebrations began with a special screening of the movie 'Dil Bole Hadippa' at DT Cinema. This was followed by lunch sponsored by the Hilton cafeteria along-with fun & games. Their chef whipped up a special menu for the patients. The evening concluded on a musical note with patients singing and dancing with pop-singer Shankar Sahwney. This event was put together by DLF (Saket). On the 23rd September, roses and chocolates were distributed at the AIIMS Pediatric Ward by students of class XII of the Chinmaya School along-with CPAA volunteers. A drawing competition was also arranged on this occassion.

This year too, bollywood star and a long-time patron, Viviek Oberoi, chose to celebrate his birthday with his young friends at CPAA. He invite childhood cancer patients to a grand party held at Imax Adlabs Wadala on 26th September and enjoyed a special screening of the documentary 'Making way to space' with them.

Style for Smiles: Smt Falguni Nayar, CEO of Kotak Mahindra Capital Company Limited and Shri Vikram Sakhuja, CEO of Mindshare, A GroupM Company nominated CPAA for the Style for Smiles initiative for the year 2009-2010 at a Fashion Show at the Taj Crystal Room on 1st October. Toofles Foundation under the mentorship of Give Foundation will facilitate a special collection drive amongst the employees, friends and family of the nominating CEOs to collect things donated by people and subsequently sell them for recycling and reuse. The funds generated from this will be given to CPAA.


Glaxo Smithkline invited CPAA to display and sell the products created at the Rehabilitation center by cancer patients for their Diwali Exhibition cum sale at the Corporate office at Worli on 9th October.

Diwali Celebrations: Diwali was celebrated with great festive fervour by the patients and social workers at the Rajgarhia Dharamshala. The patients helped in decorating the temple area with diyas, flowers candles and colorful streamers for the Diwali Pooja, after which they all sang bhajans and folk songs and distributed sweets.

On 21st October, Hotel Novetel had invited 15 childrenhood cancer patients along-with their relatives to see the christmas cake mixing, a ritual done 2 months in advance as a preparation for the cakes to be baked to celebrate Christmas. Snacks and take away gifts were given to the children by Novotel with a promise to call them back during Christmas for a fun-filled tasting session.


Inauguration of Breast Cancer Support Group at Richfeel centre, Bandra 20th October: CPAA's Alison Macdonald initiated a unique breast cancer support group which will gather together survivors in different parts of the city to share experiences every month.

Breast Cancer Survivor’s Day Out: On 30th October 30 survivors were treated to a 'day out' organised in partnership with Avon Global Breast Cancer Foundation, Delhi chapter. A 'first day first show' of the movie London Dreams was followed by a lunch at Turquoise Cottage, decorated with pink balloons and streamers. The youngest survivor, 14 year old Pooja was especially touched by warmth and the hospitality extended to them. Avon cosmetics put together a goody-bag of Avon products for all the guests.
 

Cricket Match between ORGIMS and Indian Airlines: A 20-20 charity cricket match was organised by Aditi Bapat and played between ORG-IMS (a market research company) and Indian Airlines at the latter's ground in Kalina on 31st October to raise funds for CPAA. Set a target of 118 to win, ORG-IMS were bowled out for 78 runs. Sachin Sawant of ORG-IMS top scored with 38 and was awarded Man of the Match by eminent commentator Milind Wagle. Neeti Khullar of ORGIMS handed
over a cheque of Rs. 2.3 lakh to CPAA. More pictures >>


Down Memory Lane: Hiro Shroff, our member and well-wisher has written an excellent and highly-readable book titled -'Down memory lane'. Hiro has motivated several of his friends to sponsor copies of the book and gift them,through him, to CPAA, who in turn, gifts these to cancer patients/survivors. The feed-back is that the recepients welcome and enjoy reading the book. In the event any of you wish to give a helping hand and sponsor copies, please get in touch with : hiroshroff@hotmail.com

Cancer awareness lectures were delivered at the British Council Library (4th September), Aditya Birla Science & Technology centre (18th September), Kotak Bank (21st October), Coral Hub (29th October).

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CAMPS AND CLINIC REPORT: SEPTEMBER & OCTOBER 2009

TOTAL NO. OF CAMPS/CLINICS HELD	33
TOTAL NO. OF INDIVIDUALS SCREENED	980
SUSPECTED CASES	367
DETECTED CASES	1

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PATIENT CARE REPORT:  SEPTEMBER & OCTOBER 2009

TOTAL NO. OF PATIENTS COUNSELED	4,430
TOTAL NO. OF PALLIATIVE PATIENTS COUNSELED	668
INFORMATION / LITERATURES PROVIDED	3,060
WARD / ROOM VISITS	1,641
TOTAL NO. OF AMBULANCE SERVICES PROVIDED	1,322
TOTAL AMOUNT SPENT ON 394 PATIENTS - RS. 5,10,804

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