Programa Alimentando Esperanzas (Feeding Hope Program)

38% of pediatric patients with oncology diagnoses, transplants, and cardiovascular surgeries experience severe or moderate food insecurity.

This means that in addition to the nutritional deficiencies caused by their disease, these highly complex patients do not have sufficient, nutritious, good quality food at home. The difficult socio-economic conditions of the families are the main reason for this situation.

As a result, many of these patients do not receive the daily number of meals they need to achieve adequate nutrition, which can help them recover better and lead active and healthy lives.

The Alimentando Esperanzas program was created at the end of 2021 to combat food insecurity and promote good nutrition among these patients. In this way, it can reduce the inequality gaps that arise when social factors put children at a disadvantage during the process of illness and recovery.

For Fundación Valle del Lili, it is a priority to create programs and interventions that help children in vulnerable conditions to have the same opportunities for recovery as other minors who, although they have the same disease, do not have the same barriers.

What is Alimentando Esperanzas?

The focus areas of the program are

• 1. Identify

  To identify patients who are severely or moderately food insecure, the Latin American and Caribbean Food Insecurity Scale (ELCSA for its acronym in Spanish) is applied to all pediatric patients diagnosed with cancer, transplants or severe heart disease who are identified in the inpatient setting. They also receive an initial medical and nutritional assessment.

• 2. Ensure access to food

  Families of patients enrolled in the program receive a monthly food kit that covers 70% of the household's nutritional needs. For each case, the timing of the delivery of the kit is determined based on several variables, including the diagnosis, the stage of treatment, the patient's nutritional status, and the level of food insecurity. The program provides food aid to patients living in different regions of the country.

• 3. To educate

  To address food insecurity, in addition to ensuring access to food, families need to learn how to improve their eating habits and make the best nutritional choices, even when they don't have enough money. This area will contribute to the sustainability of the intervention once the food aid is stopped. The educational process focuses on the family unit because of its influence on the child's development. It is assumed that if the family is properly nourished, the children will also be nourished in the short, medium and long term.

• 4. To follow-up

  In addition, two types of follow-up are carried out. The first is a social follow-up, which examines the current social situation of the family and the evolution and condition of the patient. The second is the nutritional follow-up, which is carried out with a medical evaluation every 4 months. This last monitoring is documented in the patient's medical history. All beneficiaries receive assistance for a period of at least one year.

Alonso Ocampo Foster Home Agreement

Fundación Valle del Lili, in agreement with Alonso Ocampo Foster Home, provides temporary accommodation to patients who:

• Come from other municipalities different to Cali.
• Have no medical criteria for hospitalization, but they must be in Cali for the continuation of their treatment.
• Do not have the socioeconomic conditions needed to afford to live in a permanent home.
• Do not have a support network in Cali.

The Foster Home is also ideal for patients who:

• Come from distant areas or areas of Cali that are difficult to access.
• Have difficulty leaving hospitalization services with home care.

In these cases, FVL may request that the home care service be assigned to the foster home.

What does the agreement with the foster home offer?

The agreement with the Alonso Ocampo Foster Home offers, free of charge:

• Accommodation and food for the patient and a companion.
• Transportation to and from FVL.
• Nursing service from Monday to Saturday, daytime.
• Night nurse service for vital signs only.
• Food according to the nutritional indications of each patient.
• Availability of single rooms for patients with isolation measure.
• Shared rooms with cubicles.

Food, transport and funeral aids

In search of more accessible and inclusive health care for the poor population, FVL has a humanitarian aid program that helps alleviate basic needs that have more vulnerable patients and companions. The program has scope to the different headquarters of the institution and has 4 types of aid:

• Food assistance for companions of hospitalized patients.
• Transport aids for patients and family members.
• Medication aids for patients.
• Funeral assistance for families of deceased pediatric patients who do not have funeral insurance.

The cases of patients and families interested in receiving one of these grants are evaluated separately through a socio-economic survey to verify whether or not the applicants meet the criteria necessary to be beneficiaries. The criteria are defined in the Institutional Policy of Social Assistance to the Most Vulnerable Population.

Is an institutional group of hospital clowns. It was born out of the need to provide more humanized care and to carry out interventions that contribute to the overall healing of patients and give them a dose of emotional well-being.

Through play, humor and laughter, the goal is to change the dynamics of the hospital and improve the health of the patients, regardless of their age. This group is made up of citizens of Lili who voluntarily decide to train as hospital clowns, maintaining their standards thanks to continuous training and learning about clowning techniques.

The main objectives of the Sinfonía de sonrisas are to:

• To mitigate the negative emotional impact of disease and hospitalization.
• Relieve distress and uncertainty by bringing hope to patients and reconnecting them with other fundamental aspects of their lives.
• Avoid isolation and the breaking of social and emotional bonds.

This program provides integrative psycho-educational services to children and adolescents in the process of illness to meet their biopsychosocial needs and contribute to their comprehensive human development.

The Aula Lili program is based on two theoretical and practical frameworks: hospital pedagogy and inclusive education. The main objective is to accompany pediatric patients and their families in a human and sensitive way, so that the health care process, inside and outside the hospital, becomes an opportunity for learning, development and personal growth. Playfulness and the creation of meaningful educational experiences are fundamental tools to achieve this goal.

The program has the following specific goals:

• 1. To contribute to the care of the physical, mental and emotional health of children and adolescents.
• 2. To encourage playfulness as an opportunity for freedom, autonomy and creativity.
• 3. To provide educational and school support for the development of skills, through creative and flexible strategies and resources.
• 4. To articulate, with the different stakeholders involved, the efforts that contribute to patients being able to receive comprehensive care.
• 5. To generate permanent reflection processes that lead to the production of knowledge.

El Aula Lili achieves its objectives through fundamental axes:

• Playful-educational axis: Playful intervention and health education are fundamental tools to promote human development processes in the hospital environment, offering patients and their families spaces to process their emotions and acquire social skills to face the process of illness and hospitalization in a positive way.
• School axis: Provides educational and school support to patients in order to develop their skills through creative and flexible strategies and resources. It also coordinates with families, educational institutions, foundations and educational secretariats to facilitate access, permanence and continuity in school, seeking to mitigate the negative effects of disengagement from school caused by the disease and treatment.

The team of El Aula Lili is interdisciplinary. It has the contribution of psychologists, occupational therapists, professionals in bachelor degree and professionals in recreation. The program covers all the pediatric services of the institution.

Spine and Scoliosis Day

The Day of the Spine and Scoliosis is aimed at pediatric patients diagnosed with scoliosis and spinal deformities who, due to various barriers and conditions of vulnerability, have not had access to timely and adequate treatment.

The medical team of the Global Spine Outreach Foundation (United States) and the Fundación Valle del Lili, organized by the Fundación Casa de Colombia and supported by the company Medtronic, meets semi-annually at the facilities of the Fundación Valle del Lili to follow up on the children and perform the necessary surgeries.

For these patients, continuous and timely care is essential to improve their quality of life. The impact of these days is to give children the opportunity to grow up in better conditions and to give them and their families all the support and confidence they need.

If you know a child under the age of 17 who could benefit from this day, please contact Fundación Casa de Colombia at the following numbers in Cali: 6026613856, 6026670248, 3227802902.

Through interdisciplinary work, volunteers from Fundación Operación Sonrisa together with our specialists carry out timely and comprehensive treatment in these medical-surgical sessions for patients, which include: assessment for plastic surgery, dentistry, speech therapy, pediatrics, anesthesia and taking laboratory exams.

How is the process?

Interested families must register children for the day and verify the dates on which they must be present.

These days are held in two days: a Friday and a Saturday. On the first day, the plastic surgeon evaluates the patients and, according to the medical and prioritization criteria of Operación Sonrisa, those who are candidates for surgery are selected. If these patients receive approval from the pediatrician and anesthesiologist, their surgery is performed the next day. A week later, post-operative control is performed with the plastic surgeon.

At all times, families are supported by an interdisciplinary team made up of pediatricians, anesthesiologists, nurses, psychologists, social workers, among others.

If you know a child, adolescent or adult with a diagnosis of cleft lip and cleft palate, who can benefit from these days, we invite you to contact the following numbers: 3142381719, 3212052806, 3212052359

Jornadas de salud externas (External health days)

In order to bring preventive health services to the community, FVL professionals travel to different sectors of Cali and the surrounding municipalities to provide medical care, education and advice to patients and families.

Dentistry, paediatrics and gynecology are currently being held.

Thanks to various alliances with foundations, NGOs, Child Development Centers (CDI for its acronym in Spanish), protection homes and schools, others, FVL professionals can reach the populations with the greatest need for accompaniment.

Donaciones Externas (External Donations)

Fundación Valle del Lili, according to its possibilities, makes donations to external organizations that lead programs that contribute to the social, cultural and economic development of the city and the region.