According to the Polish National Cancer Registry, the malignant neoplasm incidence in Poland has more than doubled over the recent three decades, reaching in excess of 140,500 cases in 2010. Patients from throughout Poland are treated at the Maria Skłodowska-Curie Memorial Cancer Centre in Warsaw, their next of kin unable to assist them throughout the diagnostics, treatment, and recovery process. Hospital capacity in terms of social worker and psychological support is limited. Few people apply for hospital volunteer work, and the churn rate in the volunteer community is high for reasons of tremendous psychological hardship.
The purpose of the project was to promote hospital volunteer work as an efficient method of assisting cancer patients in Warsaw facilities.
Volunteers expanded their knowledge of different aspects of living with neoplasm to improve their self-sufficiency and functionality in difficult situations. New volunteers were recruited, patients offered daily assistance.
One hundred and twenty new volunteers were recruited and duly trained as part of the project (3 series of 14 training sessions for a total of 209 participants). The volunteer support system included a helpline (manned by legal, psycho-oncology, and social pedagogics experts) and an e-learning platform, as well as an integration meeting and a “Helping Wisely” conference followed up with a manual (circulation: 4,500 copies) for care givers to cancer patients. Volunteer-distributed patient manuals were published as well (60,000 copies in total, 12 publications of the “Conquering Cancer Together” series). The project benefitted volunteers and patients of the Maria Skłodowska-Curie Memorial Cancer Centre.
The project was implemented in partnership with two organisations. One recruited volunteers, organised 9 specialist training sessions per cycle, and drafted a volunteer textbook, the other handled patient and volunteer manual publishing.