Contents …  · Web viewThis hospital in particular has altered very little since built by Canadian funding in 1970. Authoritarianism has had a huge effect on the healthcare in

White Paper

By Cami Chapus Stanford University ‘16

A beneficial sports platform for the pediatric patients of the World Child Cancer (WCC) organization in order to ameliorate mental and physical struggles by creating healthy and advantageous use of their time spent receiving treatment at each hospital location.

March 12th 2014, PWR 2-SDP PLAY Time

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Contents1. Introduction & Summary………………………….……….…3

2.What is Playtime? …………………………………………..4,5

3.History of Healthcare in Bangladesh…………………….…5,6

4.Why should World Child Cancer use Playtime? ..………..6,7

5.Why is play important in a child’s life? ………………….7,8,9

6.Need & Solution……………………………………….………9

7.About the author…………………………………...………...10

8.References ……………………………………………………11

Who is this white paper for? World Child Cancer staff including child cancer experts and business

leaders Policy makers interested in saving the lives of children

What will you learn from this white paper?

The significance of physical activity and team participation in a child’s life

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Why & how my sports platform, Playtime, will help fight childhood cancer

o Cultural relevance of the subject matter Who World Child Cancer is and what they do The valuable purpose of Playtime for WCC How to positively influence a child’s health from miles away

o Playtime does not cost much at all

Introduction & SummaryHope is generally an abstract idea, a wish, a desire, or an expectation. However, hope exists as an attainable truth in developed countries where modern technology prevails, appropriate shelter is provided, and sanitary healthcare methods are prioritized. In the developing country of Bangladesh, hope is a mere fantasy for children with cancer due to the rundown hospitals, poor diagnoses, improper treatment, and long miles spent away from home. Articles from the present and sources from decades ago on childcare in Bangladesh both indicate a need for better hospital conditions as well as more solutions that improve survival rates. For children with cancer, an internal feeling of hope is essential for coping. An optimistic atmosphere and a positive mindset can prompt hopefulness.

Playtime is a sports platform for World Child Cancer that will help instill hope in children fighting cancer.

Mental and physical benefits of sport, exercise, and team participation dominate the fields of psychology, neuroscience, psychiatry, and other sciences nowadays. For children with cancer, sport is important because it improves a child’s sense of wellbeing, self-confidence, and belonging.

“There is sport during and after cancer. I believe it has helped my son enormously to keep positive and feel good about himself. He remained extremely well whilst on maintenance therapy, still doing a lot of sport despite monthly doses of chemotherapy and steroids. He will not give up and sport helps him do this.”

-Ginny Macintyre, mother of Alex, diagnosed with cancer. 

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This white paper aims to capture the attention of the World Child Cancer organization in addition to informing the public on how they can help children with cancer in developing regions such as Bangladesh. Understanding how my sports platform can help children with cancer at developing locations will provide World Child Cancer with another angle at which we can combat child cancer. This sports platform, “Playtime,” will provide children with a sense of community, belonging, positivity, strength, and family through engaging in health appropriate activity. Pediatric patients at hospital locations supported by World Child Cancer have a need for a sense of community and hope, and this white paper provides the solution: play and sports.

What is Playtime?According to Gilbert and Bennett’s Sports, Peace, & Development, a successful sports platform “provides children with a long and healthy life, accesses knowledge, as well as have a decent standard of living and participation in the life of their community and the decisions that affect their lives.” There are many of these innovative and new types of platforms being implemented in the United States such as PEER (pediatric survivors engaging in exercise for recovery) and YTY (yoga for youth), just to name a couple. Similarly, Playtime promotes an innovative angle at which childhood cancer can be fought from.

Playtime proposes that not only money donations be offered to World Child Cancer, but also simple sportswear and equipment. The Playtime platform also calls for WCC to be open to these kinds of donations and possibly use donations to invest in cost-friendly sports equipment.

The play aspect of sports does not have to be played on a large soccer field or a basketball court; they can be as simple as a 5-year-old kicking the ball around a small space or playing catch with a family member, doctor, or fellow patient. By providing team participation and activity for children at these distant and dilapidated hospitals, we can help combat child cancer by offering a sense of community, a glimpse of confidence, and an alleviating outlet for these children.

Although Playtime is a sports platform, it is evident that some patients might not be able to engage in sports. This is why Playtime accommodates for those who are handicapped by promoting play as well as sports activity. What is the difference between play and sport? Play uses physical activity to create a fun and amiable atmosphere. Sports can be used on a more competitive level. Specifically for the pediatric patients of WCC, play would be more effective

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because lower levels of physical activity can be manageable and benefit the children more than frustrating, higher levels of sports activity. Another key difference is play includes jumping rope, catch, sandbox activity, and swinging on monkey bars. On the other hand, sport challenges higher skill level abilities and follows certain rules of the game (soccer, baseball, basketball, football). There are no rules with playtime, just fun.

5 reasons kids should play:1. Play puts them in control; these kids are not in

control of their disease and diagnosis, but sport is something in their life that can be under their control.

2. Play is self-motivated;3. Play is fun.4. Play will help them cope with real life

challenges.5. Play will provide an outlet and a happy

distraction for the kids.

Because the children being treated, in locations such as Bangladesh, are affected by cancer mentally and physically, Playtime equips children with an age appropriate and health appropriate level of activity. Something that is stimulating enough to capture the child’s attention, but easy enough to accomplish without putting their treatment and recovery at risk. In a pilot location

History and healthcare in BangladeshInfant and maternal mortality has been an ongoing and prevailing issue in the developing country of Bangladesh. Particularly, in urban migrants, child mortality levels increase due to poor living conditions. According to the scholarly source entitled, Health and Mortality; Issues and Recommendations, “Rural-to-urban migrants generally have higher childhood mortality levels than urban natives,” and “housing conditions and access to safe drinking water and hygienic toilet facilities are the most critical determinants of child survival” in the region.

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Bangladesh has suffered from a health system left behind in tatters by decades of rule by a junta. At the Children’s Hospital in Yangon “you encounter the legacy of decades of mismanagement and the heavy hand of a regime that starved the country’s healthcare system of resources” (according to the Financial Times Seasonal appeal for World Child Cancer). This hospital in particular has altered very little since built by Canadian funding in 1970. Authoritarianism has had a huge effect on the healthcare in Bangladesh and Myanmar (a rundown region with a population of 60m) is “coming in from the cold” barely “reconnecting with the global economy and confronting political change at a remarkable pace.” This means that although the country is currently developing, the conditions are still far from adequate to properly treat children with cancer.

After the independence of Bangladesh in 1971, urbanization began to become more and more popular. Families decided to move form the rural country lifestyle because urban migration provided more income and less commute. In the scholarly source entitled, “Infant and Child Mortality in Urban Bangladesh,” the author states that “1 in 10 children born in Bangladesh dies before reaching his or her fifth birthday.” This shocking statistic portrays infant and child mortality levels and trends in urban Bangladesh and sheds light on a need that has existed for decades.

According to the scholarly article, Emerging Issues of Health and Mortality in the Asian and Pacific Region, there exist strategies to achieve the millennium development goals (MDGs). These goals were constructed to improve health and reduce mortality through political, environmental, and economical change. A few of the general recommendations to achieve the MDGs are listed below:

Governments should promote and build on the growing community awareness of healthy lifestyles

Efforts should be made to improve the social environment to enhance the survival conditions of children

Governments should take appropriate actions to reduce the number of deaths due to non-communicable diseases, which are becoming major causes of death in many countries

Governments should enhance mental health programs and counseling programs

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Governments should focus on the identification of risk factors for non-communicable diseases among children in order to effectively reduce mortality

All of the MGDs mentioned can be effectively put into action through implementing Playtime in combination with the World Child Cancer efforts.

Why should World Child Cancer use Playtime?Over 200,000 children worldwide develop cancer every year and the majority of those families live in low-income countries. While HIV/AIDS is a common epidemic and ailment to these regions, so is childhood cancer. Most of worldwide healthcare focuses on reducing the risk of HIV/AIDS and malaria across all genders and ages. Although very prominent, this overshadows child cancer.

Of the 200,000 children who develop cancer each year, less than 5% will survive without World Child Cancer. In developed and rich countries, 80% of the patients survive (according to statistics from World Child Cancer).

World Child Cancer is an up-and-coming foundation, started in 2007 in the UK, aiming to help treat children with cancer, worldwide. Their main goal is to treat those children who are not fortunate enough to live in the developed world. An overarching aspiration WCC has is to create a world where every child has access to the best possible treatment and care. Where treatment is not possible, the foundation provides children with effective pain relief. Similarly, an overarching aspiration of the Playtime platform is to provide children with the access to a simple, cost-friendly, and fun mental relief. Playtime would help benefit those

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200,000 children, especially in a low-income country such as Bangladesh, because it is cost-friendly and has physiological and psychological benefits.

Through a process called “hospital twinning,” WCC is able to twin networks of international hospitals and volunteer specialists. This voluntary help enables WCC to provide children with cancer a means of attaining expert treatment. What if we could supply these children with cancer a means of attaining self-confidence and hope?

Working with children who have cancer is no easy feat, especially in developing countries such as Bangladesh with unsanitary and way-below average conditions. But, what if the young boy or girl was enthusiastic about treatment or had a positive mindset through the long hours spent with doctors? When children have a smile on their face and hope in their soul, the atmosphere around the hospital can be changed. Playtime can provide children with that smile and hope.

By donating to the World Child Cancer organization you could be contributing to the purchase of a soccer ball, jump rope, or baseball mitt for these children. All it requires is participation and simple donation.

Why is play and sport activity important in a child’s life?The Children’s Cancer and Leukemia Group (CCLG) has done extensive research on play and sport as well as received amazing results with their younger cancer patients. Through their experiences, the Children’s Cancer and Leukemia Group established that exercise is important for children with illnesses because they can increase and maintain a level of fitness, help maintain a healthy weight during treatment, improve a child’s sense of wellbeing and self-confidence, and specifically, with team sports, improve a child’s sense of belonging.

“There are many known benefits to incorporating general exercise into the pattern of daily life. Regular exercise releases hormones called endorphins, which contribute to a sense of ‘feeling good.’ For children and young people with cancer, whose lives have been turned upside down by their diagnosis, and who may have spent long periods in hospital, this can be very beneficial.” The Children’s Cancer

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and Leukemia Group reiterates the point that sport in a child’s life can “enhance good patterns of sleep, has been shown to decrease pain, and also to increase appetite.” If sport activity can decrease some amount of the pain, whether that is mental exhaustion of physical discomfort, why not let kids play?

Ben, diagnosed with a spinal cord tumor, found strength in sport. His mother, Caroline Cross, expressed, “When Ben was diagnosed with a spinal cord tumor, a friend lent us a bike holder, so that he could cycle his bike statically indoors to try and build up his strength. He soon got on and kept building targets—this was a huge boost to Ben physically and mentally.”

Ben has found friendship and happiness in play: “Ben went wheelchair ice-skating. I hadn’t seen him laugh for such a long time. His Friends pushed him round. Those that were good skaters whizzed him round the corners at great speed. This helped to show him that, although he was in a chair, he could still participate in fun activities with his friends.” (Commented by Caroline Cross, mother of Ben, in the Children’s Cancer and Leukemia Group parents’ guidebook).

Not only do kids, like Ben, get a feeling of friendship, belonging, and strength from sport and activity, but also it is important for kids to set and achieve goals. CCLG supports setting and achieving goals because “by setting realistic goals, which are achievable, the whole family can benefit from a real sense of satisfaction.”

One main issue and doubt that CCLG addresses is the matter of a child’s ability to participate in sport and the risks at stake. They state, “There is a risk, however, that the experience may be more negative, either for the child or the parents, for instance, if the child is not able to fully participate.” In this case, the child might be frustrated or angry at his or his disability. However, “full integration takes time” and “there may be alternatives, which will still ensure that the child does feel included.”

“We have to adapt. Because of his brain tumor, tennis is very difficult for Craig. He has vision, balance and coordination issues. When we play tennis as a family, Craig is allowed 2 (or more!) bounces of the ball. He keeps missing but the rest of us encourage him, so he enjoys it. When he hits it, he’s ecstatic!” –Lesley Ingram, mother of Craig

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In addition to the amazing work and results discovered by CCLG, Cancer Knowledge Network provides a fairly new perspective on prescription for cancer patients. The Cancer Knowledge Network promotes PA, or physical activity, as a viable and workable prescription. Many physical and psychological negative side effects occur during or shortly after cancer treatment. In an article on the Cancer Knowledge Network webpage, they state that physical activity on pediatric cancer patients have had no compromising outcomes and are making a push to foster healthy PA habits for children with cancer.

The Cancer Knowledge Network defines physical activity (PA) as “any bodily movement that uses energy (over and above resting levels)” and defines exercise as “a form of PA that is performed in one’s discretionary time on a repeated basis over an extended period of time, with the intention of improving fitness or health.” PA is good for children, especially one’s dealing with disease, because it helps them combat anxiety and fear that they struggle with on a daily basis.

Need & SolutionNEED: Children with cancer travel across brutal miles and terrible weather conditions only to end up at a hospital that is run down, old, and insufficient. Many of these children wish they could just stay home. The long hours at the hospital and in the waiting room make life all the more difficult for these children and their families. World Child Cancer is working to provide better care at these hospital locations through their “hospital twinning” strategy. This strategy has already increased childhood cancer survival rates. However, I believe these hospitals have a need for a sense of community. Playtime can provide that.

World Child Cancer hopes to push the 5% survival rate in low-income countries up to that high-percent survival rate of high-income countries. With the addition of Playtime in these children’s lives, that survival rate can be reached quicker and possibly surpassed. The significance of Playtime is in its ability to offer kids strength, happiness, and belonging.

SOLUTION: The doctors and nurses that work with World Child Cancer travel to the most impoverished communities across the globe, saving lives of children with cancer. Instead or in addition to donating money to the foundation, I believe that

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donations such as a childhood ball or used baseball mitt will help improve the lives of children with cancer as well.

Playtime will help children find strength within them and give them mental tools to aid their fight against cancer. My main goal is to benefit the children’s lives directly through sport. While World Child Cancer provides appropriate treatment on the medical level and sanitation level for children in Bangladesh, I hope to provide the pediatric cancer patients with mental strength.

About the author: meCurrently a sophomore, student-athlete at Stanford University, Cami Chapus is studying Science, Technology, and Society with an interest in Cognitive Innovation and Educational Design. She actively competes for the Women’s Cross-Country team and Track & Field. Although presently running and racing for Stanford, Cami comes from a background of many sports including a 10-year soccer career, 3-year baseball participation, 2-year tennis and softball pastime, and 1-year beach volleyball experience. Overall, athletics play a crucial role in Cami’s past childhood, current life, and future endeavors. Being the eldest of 6 kids, Cami has found a joy in childcare and loves being involved with teaching, education, and coaching a younger generation. Elodie, now 5-years-old, is Cami’s youngest sibling. While watching Elodie grow and develop, she notices sport activity and play is becoming an amazingly helpful outlet for her little sister. Coming from a very athletic family and very young family, Cami has first-hand insight to sports and how they influence various age levels.

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ReferencesEmerging Issues of Health and Mortality In the Asian and Pacific Region. New

York: United Nations ESCAP, 2005.

Gilbert, Keith, and Will Bennett. Sport, Peace, and Development. Champaign, IL: Common Ground Pub. LLC, 2012.

The Elementary School Journal, Vol. 91, No. 5, Special Issue: Sports and Physical Education (May, 1991) , pp. 413-419. The University of Chicago Press, JSTOR.

(Article Stable URL: : http://www.jstor.org/stable/1001881)-

Sport and Exercise for Children and Young People with Cancer. Children’s Cancer and Leukaemia Group. http://www.cclg.org.uk/products_files/CCLG-SportandExerciseWeb.pdf.

"Cancer Knowledge Network." Cancer Knowledge Network. 28 Jan. 2014. https://cancerkn.com/exercise-in-childhood-cancer-the-role-of-education-and-programming/.

"FT Seasonal Appeal." Financial Times. Web. 20 Jan. 2014. <http://www.ft.com/ig/sites/2013/seasonal-appeal/index.html>

"Seasonal Appeal." FT Seasonal Appeal. Web. 20 Jan. 2014.<http://www.ft.com/intl/seasonal-appeal>

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"World Child Cancer." World Child Cancer. Web. 20 Jan. 2014. <http://www.worldchildcancer.org/>.