Saudi Charity “Ahyaha” and Dr. Sultan Bahebry Visit CCHE, Seeking to Establish a Children’s Cancer Hospital in Madinah City, Saudi Arabia

Tag Archives: Charity

IMG_4868 - CopyChildren’s Cancer Hospital Egypt 57357 (CCHE) is well-known in Egypt and amongst its neighbors for its many pioneering initiatives and achievements. Amidst these achievements has been assisting a Sudanese charity in establishing a hospital in Sudan using CCHE’s model. In light of this, CCHE recently welcomed the former CEO of the King Faisal Hospital in Saudi Arabia, Dr. Sultan Bahebry, for a visit which marked the beginning of the visualization of the Saudi Children’s Cancer Hospital in Madinah City. The visit focused on building cooperation in the departments of training, development and scientific research. Dr. Bahebry was joined on his visit by a small delegation from the Saudi Charity known as Ahyaha, which is designated to carry out the future plans for the hospital.

“CCHE is an achievements that the Arab world is very proud of because of its stature amidst the pediatric oncology centers at the world level”, said Dr. Bahebry. He also stated that the undertakers of the Saudi Children’s Cancer Hospital look forward to benefiting from the experience and expertise of CCHE, particularly in the fields of training, development and scientific research. Dr. Bahebry suggested that this best be achieved through designing an extensive cooperation program between the two institutions.

IMG_4889The distinguished visitors were taken on a tour throughout CCHE and the Children’s Cancer Hospital Foundation (CCHF) by CCHE staff in which they were exposed to the various departments of the hospital as well as introduced to cutting-edge technologies and equipment. They were also briefed on the rigorous fundraising strategy that CCHE, in tandem with ECN, undertakes in order to support their efforts. The visit was concluded by a meeting with Dr. Sherif Abouelnaga, CCHE’s Vice-President for Research, Academic Affairs and Outreach. This final encounter was an opportunity for Dr. Abouelnaga to share CCHE’s vision for its future expansion with the visitors. For more information about the CCHE Expansion Project, please click here.

CCHE is continually putting knowledge into action in order to locate a cure for the ailments of its patients. Its processes are based on experiences derived from the endless pursuit of CCHE’s researchers to improve the outcomes of its patients and exchange knowledge with other large entities in the field of pediatric oncology. An example of this is the recently-initiated joint International Fellowship Program in pediatric oncology which was launched in collaboration with the Dana-Farber Children’s Hospital Cancer Center (DFCHCC) and ECN.

The visit was finalized with a discussion pertaining to future cooperation between the Children’s Cancer Hospital in Madinah City and CCHE, in which Dr. Abouelnaga expressed his approval of the cooperative spirit and reiterated his willingness to assist Dr. Bahebry and the Ahyahya organization in replicating the CCHE model in Saudi Arabia and throughout the Arab world.

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Egypt Cancer Network recently caught up with Dr. Akram Safadi, the CEO of NetOne International. NetOne International, a telecom company that provides international calling services to the US, Canada and Australia, began hosting a campaign for ECN and 57357 during Ramadan 2012.

NetOne belongs to a multi-business group that started in Orlando 25 years ago as a company pioneering the notion of “contributing without donating”, through which they used telemarketing agreements with AT&T as a means of giving funds back to the community in parts of their monthly billing. The main idea behind this initiative, at its conception, was to provide aid to schools that were dependent on donations so that they could utilize the purchase power of their communities to fund the schools without donating. Under this principle, NetOne became the premier agent of AT&T when it came to selling to ethnic markets. This effort generated more than $100 million in sales annually, simultaneously contributing millions of dollars to schools and charities throughout the United States.

As a telecom company, NetOne came into formal existence in 1998 as a spinoff of the original NetOne framework, created with the explicit goal of providing international calling services to ethnic communities in the US and Canada. They based their customer service centers in Egypt and have been located there for nearly a decade. As a result, Dr. Safadi has made many trips to Egypt for business. On one of his more recent trips, he and Baher Tabana, the president of NetOne Egypt, had the opportunity to visit CCHE, which they had heard so much about through TV ads and social media. Mr. Tabana’s mother, who is involved in the charity work in Egypt, facilitated a visit with Dr. Hanaa and Dr. Abouelnaga and they were given a tour which profoundly inspired and impressed them. Dr. Safadi said, “it was not only the medical aspect of it, which is outstanding, but also the humanitarian aspect… [CCHE] is a great humanitarian institute with outstanding medical care… [for] people from all walks of life… we were wow-ed!”

Not only did Dr. Safadi visit the renowned CCHE campus, but his calling center team also paid a visit to the premises in early November 2012.

His visit inspired him to seek out opportunities to help the “great institute“ of CCHE in any way that he could, as a company and a business. This generated the proposal of an idea: as NetOne has call centers in Egypt, they therefore have a great reach to the Arab-American community as it is such a major sector of their customer base. NetOne speaks to nearly 2,000 Arabs in the United States every day from their call centers in Egypt, from which they offer them services and provide customer service to them.

The idea that Dr. Safadi proposed was a joint effort in NetOne supporting CCHE through campaigns in which they offer the customer the same service that they are currently obtaining, and, at no cost to the customer, donating 0.5% of the purchase price to CCHE. CCHE and ECN are in the process of promoting and raising awareness of these campaigns, creating a win-win scenario through which NetOne, CCHE and ECN are all promoted.

The campaign was signed into effect just before Ramadan of this year and is ongoing, allowing NetOne and their customers to contribute to CCHE at all times. This type of campaign allows NetOne to offer something extra to the customer, distinguishing them from competition. In arranging for this campaign, NetOne International has committed to a level of contribution over the next three years that will reach at least $85,000, and will consequently pursue a naming opportunity with CCHE once this amount is obtained. In October, the campaigns generated $8,438 to 57357, and at this pace the $85,000 commitment will be met in one year instead of the three years span.

The toll free numbers that they are providing those interested in donating are: 1-855-GO-57357 for NetOne+57357 Campaign and 1-855-TO-57357 for Omniat+57357 Campaign. When customers call any one of these numbers, they go directly to the main call centers in Egypt and generate a donation to ECN, which is put towards CCHE. Please ensure that you call the aforementioned numbers if you are interested in donating to ECN.

 

Dr. Mohamed A. El-Erian, CEO of PIMCO, a major global investment company, attended the Egypt Cancer Network 57357 (ECN) iftar in Los Angeles along with his wife and daughter. They were inspired by the work that is being done by ECN in support of Children’s Cancer Hospital Egypt 57357 (CCHE). Because of its effectiveness in delivering superior health services to children, they consider the hospital an impressive example of charity innovation and sustainability in Egypt.

Together with his daughter and wife, Dr. El-Erian stated that he was delighted “to support this world-class Egyptian hospital that provides comprehensive cancer care to children at no financial cost to them or their families.”

ECN extends its sincere appreciation to Dr. El-Erian and his family for their visit and for their generosity. The administrations of both ECN and Children’s Cancer Hospital Foundation (CCHF), both recipients of Dr. El-Erian’s humanitarian donation, are grateful that Dr. El-Erian shares their strategic vision to cure children regardless of their ability to pay. ECN and CCHF are equally grateful for Dr. El-Erian’s support of their tireless efforts to make CCHE be a world leader in pediatric cancer care. With Dr. El-Erian’s help, CCHE, by way of ECN and CCHF, is truly on the way to achieving its expansion goal to serve and cure more children in Egypt.