Mission
Our mission is to advance cancer prevention, early detection, and the improvement of the quality of life for patients and families affected by severe illness.
Rays of Hope Hospice Jinja
Psychosocial Support
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Disease in any family affects everybody in the household – emotionally, financially and socially. The patients of RHHJ belong to the very poor, and often we find our patients sick on the bare floor with little or no food, worried not only for themselves , but also for their children who may be out of school.
Over and above easing their physical pains and symptoms, each patient and their family are evaluated individually to try to address the total pain that they are suffering.
RHHJ provides counselling, and when needed: food, mattresses and bedding, school fees, clothes, wheel-chairs, washable diapers as well as day-care clinics and bereavement.
Counselling
Patients and their families receive counselling during every visit.
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For very complex cases, counselling is done by our trained social workers.
Food Support
Some of our poorest patients receive a monthly food basket of 3kg rice, 2kg beans, 1kg sugar and one stick of soap. We also began a new program for very weak patients who receive a monthly supply of nutritional porridge.
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In addition, the neediest patients receive a monthly comfort fund of UGX 10,000 / USD 3 to help them with their basic needs.
School Fee Support
We support 114 children who are either sick themselves, have a sick parent in the RHHJ programme or have been orphaned by a parent who was a patient with RHHJ.
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These children also receive school bags, shoes and other scholastic materials.
Day Cares
Every month, RHHJ hosts three day cares in different districts. These day cares are for patients, their families and care-takers to get together and share experiences, receive health talks and share a good meal.
Wheelchairs
Many of our patients are bedridden and spend all their days lying in dark, rooms all alone. Providing them with a wheelchair so that they can go outside, get fresh air and even move into the community to see friends, attend events, church and funerals is completely life changing, not only for them, but for their caretakers as well.
Bereavement Support
As the ​majority of our patients are terminally ill, it is an important part of our psychosocial programme to offer bereavement support to their families that they leave behind when they die. Part of this includes counselling, and the other part is a small monetary donation to help the family cover funeral costs.
Housing Support
Most of our patients are from the very poorest communities in Uganda, and for this reason we find many of them living in dilapidated sheds or huts not fit for human beings. Our team selects the most disadvantaged patients, and we build them a simple home that will keep them warm and dry. We also help to repair houses that have been damaged in storms or for other reasons.
Mattresses & Bedding
For many of our patients, a mattress is a luxury they cannot afford, so they sleep on the bare ground, which makes coping with their illnesses that much harder - especially for those who are bedridden. We try to give every patient who does not have anything, a mattress some sheets and blankets to keep them comfortable and warm. For the patients with incontinence or cervical cancer, we give them a plastic sheet to put over their mattress to make cleaning easier.
