As you enter the Children’s Cancer Center of Lebanon (CCCL), you will find the walls colored with a vivid drawing of a train with children and their joyous smiling faces, walking towards its various stations to hop on board. This drawing embodies all the details of this center, is a station for children who have experienced pain and hope between its walls, but have overcome the disease and have set out for life, just as the train travels from one station to another.
In 2002, the Children’s Cancer Center of Lebanon (CCCL) opened its doors at the American University of Beirut Medical Center (AUBMC) and in affiliation with the world’s renowned Saint Jude Children’s Research Hospital in the U.S.A. Today, it has grown to become a leading regional center providing the best free treatments for children with cancer.
Over the years, thousands of children have passed through this center, where the cure rate reached a momentum of 80% and leukemia exceeded its success rate of 90%. The cost of treating cancer patients at the center today is about $15million a year. These are provided only through donations the center’s team works hard to collect through a large number of activities and campaigns throughout the year, where anyone can contribute to their ability. The least donation can make a difference.
CCCL bestows a high level of professionalism, with staff specifically catering to a child’s moral support, accompanying them through the difficult stages they undergo during treatment. An integrated medical and humanitarian service provided by CCCL, is continuously seeking to develop its services, particularly with regard to rapid and accurate entry and diagnostic procedures. It is for this purpose that CCCL has formed a special and privileged partnership with GlobeMed Lebanon, the leading company in healthcare benefits management.
Through this partnership, GlobeMed Lebanon began its involvement in providing supplementary regulatory services, through its specialized team, to overview patients’ procedures and admissions. The medical review team at GlobeMed Lebanon also participates in monitoring patient medical files for CCCL patients to achieve the highest standards of transparency.
The General Manager of CCCL Hana Chaar Choueib, explained the details of this partnership and its importance to the center by saying, “Within the cost containment strategy we have at the CCCL, our partnership with GlobeMed Lebanon will help us regulate the treatment costs for our children, enabling us to better manage funds to treat as many ill children as possible.”
This is an integrated service provided by GlobeMed Lebanon to CCCL, which aims to develop the mechanism and digitization of the center in full, in order to achieve the maximum in treatment needed cases.
General Manager of GlobeMed Lebanon, Mr. Joe Abou Chacra expressed his satisfaction in GlobeMed’s contribution to CCCL in organizing patient medical files by saying, “Over the years, Globemed Lebanon has developed a method of delivering its services, taking advantage of innovative technologies to automate procedures, which has ultimately facilitated the process on following up on medical claims. Today, GlobeMed Lebanon is placing its expertise with CCCL, for children suffering with cancer, through the provision of free treatment along with integrated psychological and moral care of children and their families.”
In CCCL, there are stories of pain and hope, disappointments and victories. However, what is most certain is the determination and effort the CCCL team and volunteers possess in emphasizing the stories of those children who have fought the disease, won, and continued forth to the train of life towards a promising future.