On the occasion of the International Children's Cancer Day, the National Institute of Children's Diseases (NCD), in cooperation with the Clinic of Children's Hematology and oncology and the non-profit organization Children with Cancer, today they solemnly launched the first agency of home nursing care (ADOS) for children's cancer patients. It should help children with oncology diseases for which hospitalization is not necessary. Home care is the standard in the world that improves the availability and fluidity of treatment processes and also focuses on the comfort of the child patient and his relatives.Since the 1970s, there has been a dramatic improvement in the survival rate of children with cancer. In Slovakia, nearly 200 children's cancer patients are added each year. These are rare diagnoses in which the Slovak Republic is among the most advanced countries, and 8 out of 10 children are successfully cured. The development of the prognosis of children's oncology diseases is among the most successful medical stories of the 20th century in the world and at home.
However, this success entails an increase in the frequency of hospitalizations, their length as well as the number of outpatient visits to a child. For example, the treatment of the most common childhood cancer – leukemia lasts for two years and involves the amount of time spent in the hospital, resulting in considerable economic and psychological burden for the entire family of a small patient.
So that children can stay home

Although the hospital remains the dominant place of providing most of the child's oncology care, care is increasingly provided in the world even in the home environment. It is such a children's ADOS that starts with a pilot phase with nurses specializing in community treatment in Slovakia and covers the first patients in Bratislava and surroundings. The ministry will gradually expand. The patient's needs are at the forefront of modern health care. Particular attention should be paid to these needs in children's patients, because they are the most vulnerable and it is home-based treatment and the time spent at home with family is a very favourable environment for a difficult journey with an oncology diagnosis. ADOS is clearly an important step forward in healthcare and added value for the patient. A team is working under my leadership at the Ministry of Health, which is intensively devoted to new legislative standards for long-term but also palliative care. I believe that after years we will be able to improve both the conditions in this area and systemically, the Minister of Health, MUDr. Vladimír Lengvarský, said.
The Importance of Home Care
ADOS service brings treatment closer to the patient. This is free healthcare provided in the patient's home environment. The child's parent may apply for such a service, but the care at home must be approved by the treating physician. A child who has a risky oncology diagnosis, a child who requires extremely demanding and long-term treatment, or a child who is more difficult to walk, is at risk of infection or has an infectious disease and could endanger other patients in a daily clinic, may be treated under specified conditions by a specially trained nurse at home. This trend is being used more and more abroad, says Prof. MUDr. Alexandra Koleneová, PhD., chief Clinics of Child Haematology and Oncology NÚDCH. The service also contributes to the fluidity of clinic processes. Today, children at the clinic in the morning have to wait until the evening for transfusions, for example, to prepare suitable cans. The transfusion lasts about 3-5 hours. According to the new concept, ADOS nurse examines the child at home, then the condition consults the doctor and the transfusion will agree on the exact time when the child will come to the hospital, and already has everything ready, adds Kolene.
The advantage of ADOS is that the sister comes home to the patient. The child examines, collects blood, which he tests with a field analyzer and reports the results to the doctor, and says Mgr. Lucia Kostická, head of the Clinic of Child Hematology and oncology. This kind of care saves worries and time for parents, doesn't spend the whole day moving to and from the hospital, or doesn't have to provide for siblings. For a child, the home environment is less stressful, and Janka Oskerová complements it, the second of the sisters of the ADOS pilot project for children with oncological diagnoses.
Combined aid route
The clinic of children's hematology and oncology of the National Institute of Children's Diseases is a long-term leader in top health care for children's oncology patients. Up to 8 out of 10 patients return to life after recovery.
ADOS service will be covered from medical insurance, medical and personnel equipment provided by the NÚDCH. We are constantly trying to bring innovation to the care of children's cancer patients. ADOS brings not only patients themselves, but also their families comfort in home examinations, where their sisters also investigate basic biochemistry and blood counts. And according to the results, in consultation with the doctor, they will suggest further action. This success is also based on synergy with the non-profit organization Children with Cancer, which has contributed substantially to the launch of the first agency of home nursing care for children oncology patients at the hospital," said the director of the National Institute of Children's Diseases MUDr. Peter Barton and thanked the cancer kids and all the sponsors and supporters for helping to run ADOS.
They have played a very important role in the launch of ADOS and private donors will play a very important role in its activities. We have succeeded in running ADOS with donors, with non-profit organizations helping cancer children with operating costs. The Foundation Markíz and Unicredit, a car that will use ADOS nurses for patient trips, has also contributed a significant amount to the ADOS organisation.
The emergence of ADOS did not bypass without donors
From the beginning of our cooperation with Clinic of Children's Haematology and Oncology in NÚD in 2015, we see how the team of clinics, step by step, meets its goals and improves the conditions for treating children's patients. The results we see today, whether in the form of modernized premises, medical clinic equipment, or access, speak for themselves. The ADOS project is another important step forward. Imagine, please, behind all this, families with children, who will turn the world upside down when they make a diagnosis. Allowing treatment in the home environment and at the same time relieving the bed compartment KDhaO is seen as an important step. We are very happy to be part of a project that will make it easier for children's cancer patients to process their treatment and allow them to remain safe in their homes and continue on their way to recovery while maintaining the necessary health care," says Marianna Trnavská, Chairman of the Board of Directors of the Markíz Foundation. – We are proud that our several years of cooperation with the non-profit organization Children with cancer has expanded to include the project of providing home nursing care. I believe that the vehicle we have provided for this purpose will carry the help of nurses exactly where small patients will need it, said Ing. Jana Loffler, CEO of Hilek and Co. a.s.
Helping small cancer patients and the organisation of Cancer Children is one of our biggest and long-term projects. There are areas that cannot be tackled without the support of strong partners and responsible firms. A few years ago, we were the first to build the Day Clinic in children's oncology in Bratislava, modernising rooms, as we are today when opening a new mobile ambulance. Thanks to this, child oncology looks quite different today than at the beginning of our support. We very much appreciate and are proud that Clinic of Children's Hematology and Oncology in Bratislava is one of the world's top workplaces, Jaroslav Habo, director of UniCredit Bank branch in Slovakia.
International Children's Cancer Day
The international day on children's cancer education is February 15. As a sign of solidarity with children's patients, people around the world are pinning a gold ribbon on this day. Golden is a symbol of children's oncology, traditionally the city of Bratislava is added to the campaign by lighting the Primate's palace in gold.
About the non-profit organization Children with cancer n.o.
Non-profit organisation The child with cancer is a team composed of parents of children, cured patients and interested professionals. It is located directly at the Clinic of Children's Haematology and Oncology NÚDCH in Bratislava (KDHaO). The organisation's aim is to help patients and their families in the treatment process and subsequent care of them and to contribute to the innovation of children's oncology in Slovakia to treat children in standard conditions for developed EU countries, leading to improved conditions and chances of their recovery in order to return children to life.
Since 2015, the organization has collected more than €1.5 million from donors and grants, which have been used to modernise the KDHaO, such as the complete conversion of the daily clinic, the bed room for smaller children, the establishment of a gaming room for larger patients and a seminar room to support the training of KDhaO staff, awareness and assistance to patients and their families. Thanks to the organization, it also managed to open a teleconsilium, a room allowing experts to consult on individual cases at world level.
Since 2016, the organization has been a valid member of Childhood Cancer International, a global network of 176 cooperating organisations across 93 continents.