During a call to a donor living in the U.S to thank him for his donation to the Hospital through Egypt Cancer Network’s website, we found out that he is an Egyptian American Professor of Hematopathology  at Texas Children’s Hospital  and that he was presently on a short visit to Egypt . Hematopathology being an important branch of pathology which studies blood cell diseases causing bone marrow failure and leukemia, Dr Tarek El Ghetany was invited to visit the Hospital and to give a lecture in this field .

“ Ever since 57537’s  inception ,I used to follow up on its  developments from afar and now I am so fortunate to have the opportunity to  visit it. 57357 is a symbol of hope in Egypt and the Middle East for having ushered in radical change in diagnosing and treating children with cancer”, reveals Dr. El Ghetany who was pleased to know that the Hospital’s over-all survival rates have reached  an average of 70% and are getting closer to the 80-85% developed world rates.    “During my visit to the departments of laboratory and pharmaceutical services I was impressed by their expertise and up to date technology to provide every patient with specialized clinical services that would improve his outcome and chances for cure.”, said Dr. El Ghetany . “That is why I chose to allocate my donation to your future capacity expansion projects that will allow you to accept an increasing number of patients seeking your quality services”, he added. Dr. Ghetany praised management insistence on hiring physicians on a full time basis; in contrast to the practice in Egyptian Hospitals, physicians at 57357 devote most of their working day to the Hospital patients with more time with their families and protected time for education and research.

Believing in the importance of scientific research collaborations in the global fight against the disease, he expressed his willingness to cooperate with 57357 on joint research projects, adding the illustrious name of Texas Children’s hospital on the list of top cancer research institutions 57357 is already collaborating with namely Harvard’s Dana Farber, Boston’s Children’s and the St. Jude.   Thanks to Dr. El Ghetany and every kind-hearted donor contributing to curing our kids with cancer.

Children’s Cancer Hospital Egypt 57357 (CCHE), ECN’s major partner in Egypt, welcomed the South Korean band “Beautiful Mind” to the hospital campus in late January of 2013. The band, which goes by the slogan “If you want to give, don’t wait for anything in return”, was initially invited to perform at the Cairo Opera House by the Republic of Korea’s cultural consul in Cairo, Mr. Jae Yang Park.  Upon arriving offered to provide the patients and staff of CCHE with an additional concert of both classical and traditional Korean music.

The concert was a true inspiration to the audience of children, staff and families who attended. One particular member of the ensemble, the pianist Mr. Kim Kiong, shared a touching personal story of his determination in overcoming the handicap of his motor abilities. Similarly, he encouraged the young patients of CCHE to overcome their own health challenges by pursuit of their dreams with great determination. Beautiful Mind ended their concert by performing the well—known Egyptian song “Because We Are Bound To Be Together” which elicited full vocal participation of the audience.

Prior to their performance, Beautiful Mind was given a full tour of CCHE’s premises, after which they expressed their amazement at CCHE’s commitment to its patients through providing free and quality healthcare services without prejudice.

According to the band’s director, Dr. Bai Il-Hwan, “We [seek] to spread love and charitable giving without discrimination.” He also added that he was thrilled to have Beautiful Mind perform for CCHE’s children, adding that he saw music as an international language – a form of communication that knows no limitation.

On behalf of CCHE, ECN extends its thanks to Beautiful Mind for their performance and for the inspiration they gave to their audience. The children and staff of CCHE look forward to receiving you in the future!

Jonathan Bailey, the man behind the design and construction of Children’s Cancer Hospital Egypt 57357 (CCHE), sat down with Egypt Cancer Network 57357 (ECN) to discuss his dedication to the cause of creating state of the art medical infrastructure on an international scale.

Mr. Bailey began his relationship with the individuals who formed CCHE in the late 1990s, when he and several associates from his London office paid a visit to the National Cancer Institute (NCI) to do a tour of the facility and see how he could be of service.  The visit greatly impacted Mr. Bailey and his colleagues. One particularly poignant memory shared was of the children’s ward, which at the time was composed of 4-bed patient rooms. Each room was not only filled to capacity, but had double the number of beds, with two children assigned to each bed, in addition to their parents who were staying with them. Consequently, Mr. Bailey, his team and the Cairo team vowed to determine how they could make people understand that helping these young cancer patients was socially important.

Jonathan Bailey firm therefore created the concept for the building that is now known as CCHE, and were asked to be the designer on the project as well as the interior designer. In order to facilitate this extremely important and necessary project, Jonathan Bailey donated over $3 million of their fee for the designs, eventually handing them over to a local architect who would complete the project for free. In the meantime, the founders of CCHE raised additional funds to finance the project, and ultimately Jonathan Bailey was called back in to provide oversight to the construction and interior design of the hospital.

Mr. Bailey noted that he was particularly touched by the efforts made by individuals such as Dr. Sherif Abouelnaga and Patricia Pruden, two key figures at what is now CCHE, describing them as individuals who “realized there was a serious problem with cancer in that part of the world and dedicate their lives to trying to fix it”. It was these individuals, Mr. Bailey stated, that wanted to bring “state of the art diagnostics and treatment to children”, describing it as the perfect project as it was not driven by money, but rather by a genuine desire to improve the pediatric oncology situation in Egypt at the time.

Jonathan Bailey maintained their relationship with CCHE after the construction of the original campus, and was chosen to carry out the schematic light phase of the current expansion project of the hospital, which was funded by ECN. The schematic light phase can be summarized as an analysis of the existing hospital which identifies the needs of the remaining treatable population in Egypt/the MENA region, specifically those that seek pediatric oncology care. Therefore, the project determined how many cancer patients remained that they did not have the capacity to treat, as well as whether the land allocated towards the expansion was capable of handling the scale of the expansion project necessary to solve the growing cancer concern. Also detailed in the schematic light phase are the designs for the new edifices, staff counts, and a thorough review of what worked well in the original design and hospital, as well as where there was room for improvement. An example of the type of efficiency the schematic light phase seeks to implement is increasing the “usability” of a given space to an optimum range of 90%. In CCHE’s case, the more “usable” the space, the more room there is to treat and accommodate more patients.

The schematic light phase also established the contours, heights and interior design of the new expansion building, and included mentions of a design concept that combats the issue of anti-resistant bacteria strains normally found in hospitals that directly threaten the already compromised immune systems of cancer patients. It was determined that interiors which are easy to clean and featuring ultraviolet light would be implemented, and that the general design of the new expansion would take on the look and feel of the original hospital campus, albeit designed to be much taller.

This major component of the building process took Jonathan Bailey and his associates two trips for two weeks at a time to complete, in addition to four months of additional work. The reason for this immense time dedication lies in the fact that in the midst of the process, it was decided that the scope of the project needed to be larger. Therefore, the schematic light design process took longer than expected.

Mr. Bailey also took the time to share a touching glimpse into what inspires him to do this work in Egypt and throughout the world. He mentioned that he had endured some difficult experiences by a relatively young age which involved spending time waiting in hospitals. The whole experience of being in a hospital, he said, typically brings out one of the highest emotional levels a human being can reach. With that said, the hospitals he had spent time in were not places that he felt accurately addressed the emotional tumult that patients and family and friends of patients endure; they often lack windows and sunlight, have poor lighting and are generally unpleasant from a basic structural standpoint .

He later went on to be an officer in the US Air force, where he was part of a group that was placed in charge of health facilities. He therefore was given the responsibility of determining the need for proposed hospitals in various parts of the world, writing proposals and seeking approval from the US Congress.

Mr. Bailey continued to delve into interior and architectural design, winning several international competitions that allowed him to explore innovative means of handling the construction of corporate interiors and train stations, amongst other things. It was this experience that he took with him upon completing his graduate work, which he molded into a vision for constructing international hospitals and medical institutions that would be places of happiness and light for patients, friends and family members like. He eventually started Jonathan Bailey, he said, “to be a refuge for all the people like me” who specifically wanted to focus on improving healthcare.

ECN extends its profuse thanks to Jonathan Bailey and his team for their revolutionary vision and dedication to the country of Egypt and to the mission of ECN, part of which is to support the improvement of medical infrastructure in Egypt. The existence of CCHE and the construction of the expansion of CCHE are a testimony to the power of teamwork which transcends cultures.

To read more about the CCHE expansion project, please click here.

In early January, ECN’s major partner in Egypt, Children’s Cancer Hospital Egypt 57357 (CCHE), hosted an emergency blood drive after facing a major shortage in blood sacks and platelets. CCHE does maintain a database of regular blood donors, but the consistency of donations has been plagued by the political instability that Egypt is witnessing, as well as the mid-term exam season. CCHE was therefore forced to make an emergency appeal to the Egyptian public.

Social media took this public appeal viral within several hours, simultaneously attempting to increase the public’s awareness of the necessity of safe, clean blood and platelet caches which are required to treat cancer in children. The public responded by pouring into the hospital in great numbers, filling CCHE’s blood supply to the brim and bringing many new donors to the database.

CCHE and ECN were both touched by this outpouring of generosity amidst chaotic times, which gave new breath to CCHE’s blood supply and, on a greater scale, reminded people of the importance of solidarity and compassion.

This experience paralleled previous experiences that CCHE has had with the generosity of Egyptians, when CCHE was not yet a reality, but merely a twinkle in the eye of a few visionary leaders in the Egyptian medical community. It was Egyptians that laid the foundation of the hospital together, and today Egypt is the proud owner of the largest children’s cancer hospital in the Middle East/North Africa (MENA) region. CCHE has recently celebrated obtaining an average cure rate of 70%, nearly achieving the international cure rate of 80-85%. It should also be mentioned that during the uprising that took place in January 2011, it was locals that committed themselves to protecting CCHE from criminal activity.

In the meantime, the shortage in the blood supply has been rectified, but this may become an issue in the future without awareness efforts centered on the culture of blood donation. CCHE continues to feed the donor database with as many donors as possible, and is also preparing to launch an awareness campaign about blood donations and its role in curing children of cancer.

All of CCHE’s treatments are provided to their patients at no cost, in tandem with CCHE’s mission of applying the highest standards of quality and expertise in all operations and processes of diagnosis, treatment, laboratory and pharmaceutical services as well as in blood testing and processing. According to CCCHE, the pursuit of quality is the most important reason behind their success, as exemplified by their exceptional cure rates and excellent reviews.

On behalf of CCHE, ECN thanks you profusely for your commitment to the health of Egyptian children and your swift response to this particular call to action.

Ms. Ranin Magdi, a researcher at Children’s Cancer Hospital Egypt 57357 (CCHE) has won a $10,000 prize for best presentation through Walden University’s “Scholars of Change” video contest on Facebook.

Ms. Magdi joined the CCHE research department team just under three years ago and has been taking online courses through Walden University to put towards an MS in Health Informatics. She decided to share her experience at CCHE with the world through the annual “Scholars of Change” contest held by Walden University through their Facebook site. The purpose of this program is to show how members of the Walden University student body put their knowledge into action in order to serve their communities, which is a major component of Walden University’s mission of “producing positive social change”. The program, which began in 1999, is well known throughout the world for its role in exposing the diversity of its student body, as well as for its positive impact on societies throughout the world.

In her submission, Ms. Magdi included a 3 minute clip exhibiting the effects of her studies at Walden University on her efforts to improve the databases that she is responsible for designing and maintaining at CCHE. Such databases help to promote the safety of patients by reducing medical errors and promoting research to cure children with cancer. She was designated as one of the top five winners of the competition.

Ms. Magdi has generously donated $2,500 of her prize to Egypt Cancer Network 57357 (ECN), whose mission is to support pediatric oncology initiatives in Egypt while providing resources to Egyptian hospitals and non-profit organizations focused on cancer in the areas of patient care, scientific advancement and education.

ECN extends their deepest gratitude to Ms. Magdi for her stellar work in her academic and professional realms, as well as for her generous donation to our cause and organization.