In Memory of Beloved Board Member Ms. Ola Ghabour

Tag Archives: Egypt Cancer Network

Ola Ghabbour 1It is with great sadness that we announce the passing of our beloved board member, Ms. Ola Ghabour, after a short and valiant battle with cancer. Ms. Ghabour led a very successful life. She was a co-founder Children’s Cancer Hospital Egypt 57357 in Cairo as well as Egypt Cancer Network in the U.S. As a tireless volunteer and visionary, she also served as the Secretary General of the Children’s Cancer Hospital Foundation 57357 (CCHF), as well as the Chairman of the Board of the Association of Friends of the National Cancer Institute (AFNCI).

Her contributions to Egypt Cancer Network 57357 have been invaluable, and her presence in all of her activities will be sorely missed.

Please support the naming opportunity program that Egypt Cancer Network 57357 shares with its partners, Association of Friends of the National Cancer Institute (AFNCI) and Children’s Cancer Hospital Egypt 57357 (CCHE). The Naming Opportunity program is specially crafted to commemorate your loved ones while simultaneously providing the framework from which CCHE and the National Cancer Institute (NCI) can continue to treat Egypt’s cancer-stricken children. It must be noted that it was from within the ranks of NCI that the notion of CCHE was first born, and it was NCI’s campus that provided the initial training to the CCHE staff.

Several years ago NCI’s administration opted to move all of NCI’s services into one of the two towers in the complex as it was recognized that one of the towers were in dire need of structural renovations. While this decision was made from the perspective of ensuring the safety of patients and staff, it simultaneously made the functioning tower crowded and congested. It was determined that at least five years would be required in order to reinforce the tower and expand on the current NCI campus.

The form in which the campus will be renovated is through the creation of a new structure designated to house 43 out-patient clinics, making space for an anticipated 1600 visitors per day. This new edifice will make room inside the main tower for chemotherapy treatment and other more complicated services and will offer consultation services as well as dispense medication and draw blood. The cost of the complex is estimated at 16 million Egyptian pounds or $2.6 million.

According to Engineer Zaid Al-Baroodi, who oversees the construction of the new complex, once funding is secured then the time needed for the complex to be operational will be cut down to just six months. An increase in funding in the immediate time frame would permit this window presented by Eng. Al-Baroodi to become a reality, and would therefore permit the speedy and efficient delivery of services to patients and restore a healthy environment for both patients and staff. Both the preliminary design and the final design were donated by Look Pavilion Firm and EHAF Consulting Engineers Firm, respectively. The construction phase is already underway.

To date AFNCI, with the help of its partners, has already accumulated a lengthy list of accomplishments pertaining to NCI including the construction of a cytogenetic lab, a pediatric oncology outpatient clinic, the first clinical pharmacy in Egypt, and the initial construction phases of CCHE. AFNCI has also held blood drives, supplied medicines, and hired security and building personnel for NCI, while also supporting radiology services at CCHE and transporting patients to other cancer treatment centers.

AFNCI has also supported CCHE in its design, construction and management, handling all of these tasks and more before involving Children’s Cancer Hospital Foundation 57357 (CCHF) and to other CCHE partners like ECN. CCHE still receives much assistance from AFNCI today, particularly in the realm of supporting special projects that distinguish CCHE from other institutions as a leading center for children’s care in Egypt, the region and beyond.

Egypt Cancer Network 57357and AFNCI, herein referred to as ECN, is a U.S. based non-profit,501(c)3 to which all donations made are tax-deductible. Its mission is to provide resources to Egyptian hospitals and non-profit organizations focused on cancer in the areas of patient care, scientific advancement and education.

For more information about naming opportunities at CCHE and NCI, please visit http://egyptcancernetwork.org/naming-opportunities/ to begin the process. A naming opportunity can be named in the legacy of a family, a loved one or a corporation and can be in the form of rooms, wings and equipment.

 

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.