Cape of Hope: hospital opens to children with cancer [VIDEO]

"When I first visited the University Research Hospital in ul Bujwida and saw the conditions there, I simply knew that we had to build the Cape of Hope, even though the cost of the construction, which initially was 80 million PLN and later grew to 110 million PLN, was terrifying. But impossible is nothing," said the hospital's ambassador Martyna Wojciechowska at the official opening. The journalist and traveller also showed her new tattoo with the Cape of Hope's geographical coordinates. "I promised to have it done when the clinic is ready, and here it is," she said to Mayor Rafał Dutkiewicz.

Agnieszka Aleksandrowicz, President of the Foundation for the Relief of Children with Cancer, who collected funds for the construction of the clinic and its equipment, was not able to contain her tears. "The Cape of Hope is a monument to human solidarity and sensitivity. It's not an ordinary building."

Patients are soon moving in

The new hospital is vibrant with colours and is user-friendly with its glazed and sunlit interiors, walls covered in pastel hues and rooms decorated with prints provided by students of the Wroclaw School of Fine Arts. Little patients from the Children's Centre for Marrow Transplantation, Oncology and Haematology, which is now located in ul Bujwida, will soon be moving in. Professor Alicja Chybicka, the clinic's head, said a few words about the conditions for treatment in Bujwida. "Mouldy walls, leaking pipes, crumbling plaster and cramped spaces. It is difficult to preserve a sanitary regime in such conditions," she said.

Professor Marek Ziętek, Rector of the Wroclaw Medical University, explained that little patients would be moving in to a new hospital in a few weeks' time because both the doctors and other members of staff have to settle in a new location, find their way around the building and learn how to operate modern equipment.

Last finishing touches were added just before the Monday opening. Martyna Wojciechowska was seen there on Sunday while preparing a traveller's room for the children.

Modern and humane

The construction of the Good Hope (the name was suggested by one of the radio listeners) took nearly two years to complete, while the work to fit out the building took another half a year. The new hospital provides 76 beds in single or double rooms with toilets and separate convertible beds for the parents. Additionally, the building has a room with ten beds for children who are able to return home on the same day after a surgery or receiving a medicine. A separate hotel has been provided for the parents and children who do not require 24-hour medical care and have arrived for consultation or treatment. Each of the floors has a day room, and a separate play room for children is located on the ground floor.

While the hospital's basement offers 65 parking spaces, the building itself is connected with an underground tunnel to the University Research Hospital in Bujwida. The tunnel will be used to transfer medicines and samples or to transport patients for treatment.

The hospital in ul Bujwida is the largest children's transplantation centre in Poland: it performs over 50% of all marrow transplants for children in our country. The Cape of Hope hospital has been granted the title of the Transregional Centre for Children Oncology. The centre will provide care to minor patients with cancer both in Lower Silesia and elsewhere in the neighbouring provinces. It is soon also be going the most modern.

In its new location, the clinic will be able to provide care to over two thousand children from all over Poland annually. Read more

The clinic can be accessed from ul Ślężna via ul Weigla.

The hospital cost 100 million PLN to construct (85 million came from EU subsidies, the rest was provided by the Ministry of Health, and additional 10 million were donated by the Foundation for the Relief of Children with Cancer).

Photograph: Tomasz Walków

Video: Arkadiusz Cichosz