Appreciating the Impact of HOPE’s Programs
It was an inspiring day as we witnessed the impact of two very different HOPE programs showing great success.
While in Shanghai, we visited the YinHang Community Health Center in the Yang Pu District to learn more about HOPE’s Chronic Disease Management Program. The busy clinic treats 2,800 children, women and men each day, many suffering from non-communicable diseases.
Funded by Philips, HOPE’s Chronic Disease Management program works with leading hospitals and community health centers to improve access to and quality of care for patients with heart disease, stroke and other chronic diseases.
The program, which began in 2009, trains Health Care Workers in the management and prevention of chronic disease and also provides patient and family educational support.
We met with several patients at the clinic, including a man in his 70s who suffered from a stroke last year. Participating in the midst of his physical therapy, the gentleman paused for just a moment to tell our Chairman, Dick Clark, and myself, about his progress. “I can now walk again,” he said with a smile on his face.
In 2010, The YinHang Community Health Center provided 2,200 stroke patients with rehabilitative care. “Every one of those patients has increased his or her ADL score (Activity Daily Life) by 20 -30 points,” said Dr. Luo Feng, head of the Center’s Rehabilitation Medicine department.
In addition, we were told that 10,000 people enrolled in the clinic’s hypertension management program, more than 4,000 enrolled in the diabetes management program and thousands of people from the community attend the free education health lectures offered several times a year at the clinic.
We ended our evening at a “Coming for Love” charity appreciation dinner hosted by the Shanghai Children’s Medical Center. Attended by more than 300 individual, foundation and corporate donors, in addition to city officials, hospital administrators and medical professionals trained by HOPE programs, the dinner helped us reflect on our more than 12 years of partnership with the Shanghai Children’s Medical Center and the impact HOPE has made on the health and lives of children in China and throughout the world.
The SCMC also honored HOPE’s Chairman Emeritus, Dr. Charles Sanders, for his decades of dedication to the children of China and the creation and development of this internationally renowned hospital with the presentation of a Recognition Plaque.
It was an inspiring day as we witnessed the impact of two very different HOPE programs resulting in the same outcomes – healthier children, healthier families.
John