Ana Carolina Ferreira Freitas is one of the thousands of people treated in Graacacc, who for the first time records a healing rate of 80% of patients
Ana Carolina Ferreira Freitas, 24, does not say it works with people who live on the street. Work with people on the street. It is a situation, not a sentence – as it was with its treatment against the Cancer.
The osteosarcoma was diagnosed in Carol – a type of cancer that affects long bones and occurs mainly in the femur (thigh), tibia (cinnamon) or homero (arm) – when she was 14 years old, after experiencing severe pain and seeing the member swelling.
Resident in Rio Grande, inside the Rio Grande do onhe heard from the doctors that the case had advanced, that he should have sought care Porto Alegre And that most likely the arm would be amputated.
The predictions of the medical team in the state capital were no longer encouraging. “They said: ‘We can offer a treatment, but it is not the most appropriate. You deserve a more intense treatment that will provide a greater possibility of care.”
It was at this moment that an oncologist graduated from the residence of Graacc They told Carol and his parents of the work done to the institution, a reference in the treatment of children’s cancer in the Unified Health System (Sus).
At the time it was known that Graacacc had a healing rate of 72%, above the national average, and the family clung to this possibility.
“This healing rate was a great joy because in my city in practice it gave me a death sentence.”
The school’s friends promoted a great kitten to finance the journey from Carol and his father to San Paolo and, in the capital, the 10 -month treatment began.
The teenager suffered chemotherapy and performed two surgery. In the first, the doctors replaced the sick bone with a prosthesis, preserving the arm. In the second, they removed the 18 nodules that emerged in the lung in a metastase process.
Among the procedures, Carol continued to study with the teachers who work in the hospital. Everyone, from nourishments to nutritionists, to doctors to psychologists, made a point of strengthening that this was a phase. He was about to pass and she should be ready.
“Switch through the treatment with the understanding that you will go and that you will have to follow your life, study, have a college, draw a career.”
From the hospital for social assistance
Carol was approved in nursing at the Federal University of Rio Grande (vang), but decided to provide again National High School Exam (Enem) And he joined the legal course, in which he graduated.
“In Graacacc, I was treated with humanity, with great care, very attention from all professionals, from the person of the concierge, to the safety guards, to doctors, nurses and volunteers, who are there just to help, without any financial benefit. This was opening his eyes on a different understanding of life, which perhaps I could be a professional like that, to follow only financial benefits, but to give the race to people.
Today he is the mother of Augustus, 3 years old, and acts as a coordinator at an institute of assistance and social development in Rio Grande, where he manages the refuge for the homeless, the popular restaurant and some connections to strengthen the links.
“I do not work with people who live on the street. I work with people who are homeless. Through my work, the person will think about development, the day he will not find himself in that situation. I will not deal with it as if he belonged to what. I will treat it as if it were at that moment, while they treat me in the hospital.”
80% care
If at the time the Graacacc team already had this understanding, today the certainty that patients must be prepared for the future has increased. A survey shows that the healing rate of children and adolescents served in the unit has grown in the last decade. While between 2001 and 2010 it was 72% – the data available when Carol was hospitalized – between 2011 and 2020 reached 80%, a level close to that observed in developed countries, which reach 85%.
“We have a hospital basic record and we know which patients have been discharged, those who are still under treatment, those who have had a relapse and the disease has returned and those without sign of the disease for over five years, which we have considered healed,” says Monica Cypriano, medical director of the Graacacc hospital.
The progress is the result of a series of measures. Monica mentions the expansion of the structures, including the inauguration of the radiotherapy center; the implementation of a quality program, with constant monitoring of processes and failures analysis; Access to the state -ef -The -art drugs through the Participation in clinical studies; and the specialization of multi -professional teams.
“I, who serve patients with solid tumors, liver tumors, kidney tumors, work with a team used to face this population, and this applies to everyone. It has a team of the central nervous system, leukemia, surgery, bone marrow transplantation. Graacacc is one of the few hospitals in Brazil that has this model,” says Monica. Today there are 31 specialties.
According to the institution, 3,875 patients from all over the country were treated last year, with 453 new cases. 22,189 consultations Doctors, 10,936 multi -professional consultations, 2,665 surgery, 21,993 chemotherapy sessions and 4,330 radiotherapy sessions. In addition, there were 94 bone marrow transplants.
What is missing
Over the past three years, Graacc has recorded 1,312 new cases, 18.59% referring to the cancer of the central nervous system, 14.86% associated with retinoblastoma and 13.18%, leukemias.
In many cases, patients had difficulty obtaining diagnosis. “The doctors in the end, in the basic health units, sometimes not even pediatricians,” says Monica.
To improve the detection, Graacacc is working in a partnership with the Town Hall of San Paolo To provide basic doctors with a course on early diagnosis of child cancer.
Currently it is the city that regulates vacant places in the unit. If a child or teenager goes to the UBS and the doctor suspects cancer, requires the patient’s inclusion in the regulatory system, where Graacacc is an option. The hospital also receives patients through the state regulation system and, in more complex cases, residents of other states is needed, as occurred with Carol.
For Monica, the diagnosis of the disease as soon as possible has a great influence on the healing rate. It provides the example of Germany, in which pediatricians perform an ultrasound examination in their office in patients with suspicious cancer in the abdomen.
Other measures to reach the healing rate there, says the doctor, would include investments in the area of molecular biology, to perform exams capable of indicating previously how the patient’s body would react to a specific drug and access to state drugs -arti, costing millions for treatment.
“If these target medicines are not available from clinical research through the pharmaceutical industry, we are unable to buy.”
Source: Terra
Ben Stock is a lifestyle journalist and author at Gossipify. He writes about topics such as health, wellness, travel, food and home decor. He provides practical advice and inspiration to improve well-being, keeps readers up to date with latest lifestyle news and trends, known for his engaging writing style, in-depth analysis and unique perspectives.
