Guyana gets more overseas support to help fight cancer

Nov 06, 2016 News

Guyana has been benefiting over the years from immense overseas support in the fight against cancer. The most recent group to extend support in this regard is the New York Health and Education Organisation for Cancer (HEROC).

Ms. Lorna Welshman-Neblett

The group has a membership of 21 people with professional backgrounds, including Ms. Lorna Welshman-Neblett who is its Founder and President. All of the members are Guyanese living in the United States.
According to Welshman-Neblett, during a recent interview with this publication, the mission of HEROC is to be a support group to cancer patients in Guyana. Moreover, it was only recently that moves were made by the group to align itself with the recently founded Giving Hope Foundation which is headed by Dr. Latoya Gooding.
The alignment was officially concretised at a reception held at CSR Computers at Pike Street, Kitty, Georgetown.
The collaboration between the two organisations was encouraged by Dr. John Mitchell who formerly worked at the Georgetown Public Hospital Corporation (GPHC) in the Department of Oncology.
Welshman-Neblett noted that Dr. Mitchell was able to observe the work of the group as he is currently caring for a stage-four breast cancer patient for whom the group is currently providing housing in New York.
“He aligned us with Giving Hope because of the type of work we do. We don’t stop our work and we don’t only come alive in October, it is all year round,” assured Welshman-Neblett. She emphasised that it was in order to ensure that the group embraced its mission to be of support to cancer patients that it was established in the first place.
According to Welshman-Neblett, the members of the group were previously affiliated with another group but because of concerns with accountability, a decision was made to introduce HEROC.
“We wanted to make sure we were doing things right…” said Welshman-Neblett who noted that “for the last three years we spent in planning we got ourselves incorporated by the State of New York and are now a New York city Charity that pays taxes.”
Over the course of planning, the group was able to spearhead a number of fundraising events including four major fundraisers that have become annual events in New York. These fundraisers have given the organisation the financial means to put its mission into action.
This, according to Welshman-Neblett, has allowed the group to even plug some financial support into the American Cancer Society to contribute to its research on cancer.
But according to Welshman-Neblett, the group could have opted to support just about any aspect of health care. It opted to confront cancer since based on research it was found that cancer was the number one life threatening disease in Guyana.
One of the immediate focuses of the group, she noted, was to raise awareness. She noted that while the group is not all medical personnel, there is sufficient medical support which is channelled through its Advisory Board.
“Our minds come together and with all of the research we have done over the past three years we have chosen to do all we can for Guyana,” said Welshman-Neblett.
And since the group intends to work closely with the Giving Hope Foundation a hefty donation of medical supplies was handed over during the past week.
According to Welshman-Neblett while the items donated will go towards the advancement of cancer care, it is expected that the Foundation will also seek to further donate to other facilities involved in health care.
As part of its efforts also, Welshman-Neblett said that the group will work towards sourcing materials that can keep the minds of persons inflicted with cancer occupied with activities. “They can do jig saw puzzles, do colouring activities but we cannot let them sit and talk about their conditions,” said Welshman-Neblett as she emphasised the importance of cancer victims maintaining a positive attitude.
Stressing the importance of collaboration in the fight against cancer, Welshman-Neblett said that the fight against cancer requires all involved to embrace a common goal. “It should not be about you or me; it has to be about us working together…One organisation is a band-aid to the solution but if we get other organisations to come on board we will build faster as there will be more support,” Welshman-Neblett asserted.

Discover more from Kaieteur News

Subscribe to get the latest posts sent to your email.

Latest News