Programa Alimentando Esperanzas (Feeding Hope) Program

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

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

Consequently, many of these patients do not receive the daily number of meals they need to achieve adequate nutrition, which can help them to better recover and achieve an active and healthy life.

The Alimentando Esperanzas program was born at the end of 2021 to combat food insecurity and promote good nutrition in these patients. By doing so, it can reduce inequality gaps that arise when social factors put children at a disadvantage during the process of disease and health 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 program focuses on the following areas:

• 1. To identify

  To identify patients who have severe or moderate food insecurity, 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 hospitalization services. Additionally, they receive an initial medical and nutritional assessment.

• 2. To ensure access to food

  Families of patients entering the program receive a monthly nutritional market covering 70% of the household's nutritional needs. For each case, the time for which the delivery of the markets will be made is established considering several variables such as the diagnosis, the phase of treatment, the nutritional evolution of the patient and the level of food insecurity. The program provides markets to patients residing in different regions of the country.

• 3. To educate

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

• 4. To follow-up

  In addition, two types of monitoring are performed. The first is a social follow-up with which the current social situation of the family and the evolution and state of the patient are investigated. The second is the nutritional follow-up that is carried out with a medical evaluation every 4 months. This last follow-up is documented in the patient's medical history. All beneficiaries shall receive aid 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 being hospitalized, but they need to stay in Cali to continue their treatment.
• Do not have the socio-economic conditions to afford long-term accommodation.
• 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.

For 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, at no cost:

• Accommodation and food for the patient and a companion.
• Transportation to and from FVL.
• Day nursing service from Monday to Saturday.
• Night nursing service only for taking vital signs.
• 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 a more accessible and inclusive health care for the poor population, FVL has a humanitarian aid program, which helps to mitigate 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 aid 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 any of these grants are evaluated separately through a socioeconomic survey, to verify whether or not the applicants meet the criteria necessary to be beneficiaries. The criteria are established in the Institutional Policy of Social Support to the most vulnerable population.

is an institutional group of hospital clowns. It arises from the need to provide more humanized care and to carry out interventions that contribute to the comprehensive healing of patients and provide them with a dose of emotional well-being.

Through play, humor and laughter, it is intended to change the hospital dynamics of the patient and produce an improvement in their health regardless of age. This group is made up of Lili citizens, who voluntarily decide to train as hospital clowns, maintaining their standards thanks to continuous training and learning about clown technique.

The main objectives of the Sinfonía de sonrisas are:

• 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.

is a program that provides inclusive psychopedagogical services to children and adolescents who are in the process of disease, to respond to their biopsychosocial needs and contribute to their comprehensive human development.

El Aula Lili is based on two theoretical and practical frameworks: hospital pedagogy and inclusive education. The central purpose is to accompany pediatric patients and their families in a humanized 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 purpose.

The program has the following specific objectives:

• 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 fulfills its objectives through fundamental axes:

• Playful-pedagogical axis: Playful intervention and health education are fundamental tools to promote human development processes within the hospital environment to offer patients and their families spaces in which they can process their emotions and acquire social skills to face the process of disease and hospitalization in a positive way.
• School axis: Provides educational and school accompaniment to patients, so that they can develop skills through creative and flexible strategies and resources. It also coordinates with families, educational institutions, foundations and education secretariats to facilitate access, permanence and continuity of school, seeking to mitigate the negative effects of de-schooling caused by the disease and treatment.

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

Day of Spine and Scoliosis

The day of spine and scoliosis is aimed at pediatric patients diagnosed with scoliosis and spinal malformations who, due to different barriers and conditions of vulnerability, have not had access to timely and adequate treatments.

The medical team of the Global Spine Outreach Foundation (United States) and Fundación Valle del Lili, articulated by Fundación Casa de Colombia and with the support of the Medtronic company, meet semiannually at the facilities of Fundación Valle del Lili to follow up with the children and perform the surgeries they need.

Continuous and timely care is essential for these patients to improve their quality of life. The impact of the 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 17 who can benefit from this day, please contact Fundación Casa de Colombia at the following contact 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.