MySchool MyPlanet MyVillage celebrates Project Flamingo this October in honour of Breast Cancer Awareness Month; all the incredible things they do are being highlighted.
Cape Town, South Africa (25 October 2022) – Dr Liana Roodt went viral in 2017 after news broke that she was the driving force behind Project Flamingo and doing catch-up surgeries for women with breast cancer. When we shared the original article in 2017, we never dreamed of how far Dr Roodt and her team would go to make a difference for South African women.
Dr Liana Roodt makes a huge difference for women that are battling breast cancer in the public health sector. She started her programme ‘Project Flamingo’ at Groote Schuur Hospital, which today, is adopted throughout South Africa.
The selfless doctor was distressed by the heartbreaking, drawn out and often chaotic journey that breast cancer patients faced in the public health sector. These women were subjected to extremely long waiting periods for surgeries, sometimes waiting up to 12 weeks. Dr Liana decided to perform “catch-up” surgeries to help alleviate some of the waiting periods.
She started raising funds and donated her own time to make sure the women on the waiting lists didn’t wait too long.
Funds raised for Project Flamingo go towards offering surgeries, paying for theatre time and nursing staff. The surgeries are a great help to the public health sector’s backlog. Another side of the project is ‘Pamper Packs’; these are filled with items for the newly diagnosed woman.
The MySchool MyPlanet MyVillage loyalty programme has celebrated Project Flamingo this month by sharing all the good work being done. Not only does the project perform life-saving surgeries for breast cancer patients, the team also make care packs for these women and supports other cancer patients in need.
“Project Flamingo’s pamper packs are also seen as a token of hope by breast cancer patients at these institutions. When they first meet the clinical treatment team, newly-diagnosed patients receive a pack containing welcome bathroom essentials, reading material and healthy snacks. The pack is a symbol of solidarity — to remind patients they are not alone during their battle with their illness. Providing over 10 000 pamper packs to date, the team has even managed to expand its pamper pack distribution to new patients at Livingstone hospital in Gqeberra.
The volunteer-run group has also provided over 2500 food parcels (4 meals per parcel) to cancer patients. Some of the most financially-constrained patients often arrive hungry for their chemotherapy and this support gives them a small measure of food security during their cancer treatment.
Project Flamingo offers its support to other ‘sister’ projects — enabling around 50 stoma reversal surgeries to state-funded colorectal cancer patients. For patients who live with limited resources, managing a stoma in a low socio-economic setting is extremely challenging. By receiving this life-altering surgery, patients now have an opportunity to re-join the workforce. “
The focus of the project has grown to include preventative medicine by offering regular scanning by donating much-needed machines and a new online booking system which takes the pressure off the staff.
“GSH’s breast cancer clinic has also received two much-needed mobile ultrasound machines for essential imaging and diagnostic procedures. To streamline logistical challenges, Project Flamingo funded a new a computerised online booking system and helped fund the services of a specialist surgeon at GSH breast clinic to ease pressure on the existing team.
For these staff members, burn out is a real risk. When possible, the team provides psychological support and ongoing education for oncology and surgical staff as part of its ‘Care for the Carers’ programme.”
People often ask the charity how they can get involved and the response is easy, either help them raise funds or donate towards the pamper packs, or you can add the organisation as a beneficiary on your MySchool card.
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