After many months when it remained stripped bare and vacant while the former ARI administration made all sorts of offers that potential private investors could and did refuse on closer inspection, Gorgas is a hospital again. The Instituto Oncologico Nacional, Panama?s main cancer treatment facility, has moved in, gaining much more space than they had at their old Avenida Cuba premises.
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Banker Alberto Vallarino, El Grupo Fusion and hospital staff bring holiday cheer to a bedridden patient at the Instituto Oncologico Nacional?s new facilities in the old Gorgas Hospital. Photo by G.Vega
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The change of address has not changed all of the hospital?s traditions, and this year,as in the previous six, banker and political activist Alberto Vallarino came bearing gift baskets, food and music. Vallarino, whose family has a history of cancer, sponsors these celebrations through the Banco del Istmo, which he heads. This year the FundaCancer also participated.
Many of the patients at the Instituto Oncologico are indigent, and the gift packages include little necessities like toothpaste and shampoo, which they otherwise can?t afford. Many are traumatized by mastectomies, amputations or other disfiguring surgery, or are in less than the best mood as they confront illnesses that could bring on their demise, and little gestures like music and holiday cheer can literally be life-savers. "With faith, help and medical care, cancer can be beaten," Alberto Vallarino said, noting that Banco del Istmo has pitched in to help for the past several Mothers Days, and intends to continue.
The banker and former presidential candidate?s mother Marta, who has won two bouts against cancer, was on hand to lend her support for the cause. The special object of attention was three-month-old Milagro Estela G., the first baby born to a cancer patient at the institute?s new Gorgas premise. Estela?s mother is still fighting her illness, but the baby (who appears on the cover of this issue) is healthy and took all the strange different faces in good spirits. The baby, as well as most of the patients and staff, appeared to enjoy El Grupo Fusion?s festive music.
The ceremonies began in what was the waiting room at the former urology clinic. The old Gorgas Hospital signs, in English and Spanish, are still firmly glued into place on the walls and the brackets for TVs and other fixtures that were removed still remain empty, but temporary paper signs direct patients and visitors to the proper places.
Dr. Nedelka Pinzón, the institute?s director, noted that the resources aren?t there for many of the little touches. "Our ideal budget would be $12 million," she said, "but we have $8.3 million, and we?re living with this budget." Alberto Vallarino concurred: "Since the Americans left, Panama is making good use of this place," he noted.
Many of the institute?s priorities, and the less essential details with which they could use some help from public-spirited businesses and individuals, are readily apparent from the partial tour that took reporters and guests from the waiting rooms up to the wards to which Vallarino and the hospital staff brought gifts and cheer to the bedridden. For example, inside the hospital the walls, floors and other surfaces are immaculately clean, as any hospital that treats cancer patients with compromised immune systems must be. However, what ought to be a spectacular view of the Panama City skyline from the 7th floor patients? rooms is a bit marred by the mold that?s growing on the outside of the windows. Sanitary conditions are an essential and the institute has them well under control, but there is clearly a need for assistance on the aesthetic end, nothing more costly or time-consuming than a few dozen volunteers showing up to wash windows now and then. There is a need for television sets and reading materials for the waiting rooms and wards.
As one staff member who didn?t want to be identified also noted, the fight against cancer isn?t just a matter of improving conditions and treatment for those afflicted. Prevention is the key, she said. Acknowledging that it?s well known that people shouldn?t smoke, she pointed out that it?s only one of many interacting environmental factors that increase the cancer rate. "Tell your readers not to destroy their catalytic converters by filling their cars with leaded gasoline," she said, "and we will see fewer patients here."
