Vodafone Keeps Cancer Kids Connected

March 5, 2009 - PRLog -- Vodafone Australia and cancer support organisation Challenge have joined forces to help keep kids connected while undergoing cancer treatment. By bringing high speed wireless internet to the oncology ward of the Royal Children’s Hospital, this partnership allows much more than just surfing the net.

Being in hospital can be extremely isolating. Thanks to the three year collaboration between Challenge and Vodafone, the daunting experience of an upcoming stay in hospital becomes far more comfortable with lines of communication open.

Some of Challenge’s members are in for treatment for months at a time. This alone can wreak havoc on their schooling and also their friendship’s. Having access to bedside laptop’s and wireless internet allows contact with the ‘outside world’, social networking and of course keeping up with school work. Challenge offers services to more than 300 young people a week and have found one of the major drawbacks of cancer treatment is time missed at school. A cancer diagnosis brings with it many challenges.  Most people would realise that in some ways, life stops while dealing with the illness.  Things like school are put aside while undergoing treatment and regular visits to hospital. By being able to access schoolwork online, Challenge members are better able to return to the classroom once their treatment is over without the feeling that they have been left behind.

An important element of having internet technology on the ward is that of blogging. Patients are able to express their cancer journey to the blogosphere. This forms an important part of their journey allowing them creative expression and the ability to share their stories with people in similar circumstances from all over the world.

Keeping kids connected in hospital is just one part of Challenge’s extensive program.

With an emphasis on fun, all Challenge’s activities promote family unity and encourage the formation of support networks, a vital component in the healing process. Challenge strongly believes that children and families who are offered positive experiences are better able to cope with the pressures of a life-threatening illness.  

Assisting families on a daily basis, both in and out of hospital, Challenge provides camps, family activity days, hospital and parent support, holiday accommodation, extensive event ticketing, celebrity visits plus many other services.

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Challenge is a non-profit organisation established in 1983 to provide children living with cancer and other life-threatening blood disorders with the opportunity to put their illness aside and interact with other children in similar circumstances.