Originally Published at thejakartapost.com
Oppo Indonesia, the local subsidiary of Chinese smartphone manufacturer Oppo, and nonprofit organization Rachel House are currently raising funds for children’s palliative care until Aug. 31 at the Plaza Indonesia shopping mall in Central Jakarta.
Palliative care is a healthcare approach for people with serious illnesses, aiming to improve patients’ quality of life and limit their suffering by managing symptoms and pain.
Established in 2006, Rachel House provides palliative care for underprivileged children with serious diseases, such as advanced cancer and HIV, when treatment is no longer viable.
The charity program is part of Oppo’s Renoscape exhibition. For the event, the smartphone manufacturer teamed up with three local artists, Darbotz, Arkiv Vilmansa and Ronald Apriyan. The exhibition offers visitors limited edition Reno 10x Zoom smartphones adorned with designs by the aforementioned artists. Some proceeds of the smartphone sales will be donated to Rachel House. Furthermore, merchandise in the form of T-shirts and notebooks are also for sale. Featuring designs by the artists, all proceeds from the merchandise will go to Rachel House.
Rachel House CEO Maggy Horhoruw said the funds would be used to send nurses to patient homes and purchase medicines, oxygen and other products such as diapers.
“We take care of patients aged between zero to 18 years old,” Maggy told The Jakarta Post.
She mentioned that there were around 40 patients per week living in Greater Jakarta and the nurses would carry out visits up to three times a week depending on the patient’s condition. Meanwhile, Rachel House nurse Ria Febriyeni said nurses could visit two to three patients per day.
“We received recommendations from doctors or hospitals around Jakarta, such as Dharmais Hospital, Harapan Kita Hospital and more,” she said.
Ria also explained that palliative care was not about death but about improving the patient’s quality of life in a terminal state.
“It’s about allowing them to live normally in a terminal condition, letting them play and live with their loved ones.” (kes)