Six children with cancer undergoing treatment in Portugal are doing well – Observer
The children who arrived in Portugal with their families in April are doing well and almost all of them are already enrolled in school, according to the association’s management.
On April 23, he arrived in Portugal six Ukrainian refugee children to receive cancer treatment at the Portuguese Institute of Oncology (IPO) in Porto and Lisbonat the Centro Hospitalar Universitário de São João, also in Porto, and at the Centro Hospitalar e Universitário de Coimbra.
Since that date, children and family members have been living in the homes of Acreditar — Associação de Pais e Amigos de Crianças com Cancro — in Lisbon, Porto and Coimbra, and, according to the association’s directorate-general, the adaptation is going well.
“The important thing is that the treatments of these children are maintained with quality and that they all remain very stable.. This is what is fundamental for us and it is happening”, said Margarida Cruz.
Regarding the families, he said that “there is a whole period of adaptation”, since they are different cultures, but they are adapting to each other and “it is going very well”.
“The bureaucratic parts are already resolved. We have some mothers enrolled to be able to follow their school process, we already have some mothers — and all mothers almost with their children — taking Portuguese classes and some mothers having psychological support ”, she said.
To allow integration, Acreditar has translators and has “practical solutions” such as Google Translate that allow them to communicate with other families that are in the houses.
In some cases, it was necessary to bring a translator to interact with the doctor himself and with the hospital, although all of them bring the relevant documents translated into English, outline.
“Nevertheless, people need to ask the doctor questions and understand some issues concerning their children and therefore they also need to help at that level”, he stressed.
It was also necessary to give some immediate economic supportclothing support and some logistical support to help deal with more bureaucratic and adaptation issues, such as school issues and, in terms of psychological support.
“We are trying everything so that they also feel welcomed and that they are well here”, he said, noting: “We have not established other very large differences in relation to families”.
This is a fundamental issue for Acreditar, namely for children from Portuguese-speaking African Countries (PALOP) who also come “in some situations of financial, emotional and official health.
Regarding the arrival of more refugee children, under the Civil Protection Mechanism, Margarida Cruz said that the last information she obtained was that “the flow of families at the moment marks it quite significantly”.
“Ukraine is looking at Ukraine, a type of treatment in some that are calmer and therefore, we are currently getting to know”, he said.
Acreditar has received weekly follow-up meetings with all the countries in Europe and also with Ukraine, but at the moment there is no need for an immediate response.