HISTORY

Our development in time has known several successive stages:

Stage I – The OncoMed consultation centre in the Calea Şagului street (March 2004 – April 2005)

The OncoMed consultation centre has been founded in the beginning of the year 2004 on charity principles, and it started as a consultation centre in a 3-room-flat on the ground floor of a block (nr. 5 Calea Şagului, Timişoara). The centre consisted of two consultation rooms and one surgery. Right from the beginning it was obvious that the respective space was not big enough. The large number of consultations per day (30-35) and the continuously increasing number of employees required to move to a location, which could allow developing this medical unit. This was the time when a lot of partnership contracts with medical units in Timişoara have been established. OncoMed became a collecting unit for a big local laboratory, thus the tests for all consulted patients were ensured for free. An agreement with a private imaging centre was also beneficial, because this way high-performance imaging tests could be provided for free for the patients. In August 2004 OncoMed bought its own ultrasound apparatus, so the patients could benefit of this type of investigation within the consultation centre OncoMed.
Also during the year 2004 the quality standards for all the carried-out consultations have been established, more than 1500 patients have been included in the data base of the office, most of which being under cancer surveillance. There have been established norms in accordance to the European and American norms for these patients, which ensure the early detection of recurrence. The still increasing number of consultations (about 700 in November 2004) had as a result the increase of the number of the personnel: 5 doctors and a nurse in this period.

Stage II – The OncoMed out-patient's clinic in the C. Porumbescu-street (April 2005 – July 2008)

In November 2004 in 59, Ciprian Porumbescu street a house with land has been bought. The new location was destined for the development of an oncology out-patient's clinic. It offered a much wider place (approximately 180 square metres) and a green area for the relaxation of the patients and the medical staff.
In December 2004 – April 2005 the new location has been renovated. There have been established 3 consultation rooms, a surgery and a waiting room big enough for 10-15 patients. A three-room space has been planned for a future dispensary covering the necessity of medicines for the patients in treatment. In April 2005 the new location has been inaugurated and the consultations started in the out-patient's clinic OncoMed, with two new nurses, to help assure a better development of the activity.
In the year 2005 the OncoHelp Association has been founded, a non-profit association that was the basis of the future evolution of the oncologic surgery. The agreement between the OncoMed surgery with the Health Insurance Timiş made it possible to offer free access to consultations, examinations and treatment of patients. The fact that also private insurance companies appeared permitted widening the range of free services offered in order to meet the specific needs of the patients suffering from cancer.

Stage III – The Oncology Centre OncoHelp

Because the land around the out-patient's clinic OncoMed in the C. Porumbescu street allowed adding a new building to the existing one, the OncoHelp Association took action in order to create an oncologic stationary clinic, where patients could be hospitalized over night or where they could follow their chemotherapy treatment ambulatory.
Thus on October the 1st the Oncology Centre OncoHelp has been inaugurated, which had been built with the contribution of more than 100 sponsors.

MISSION

Profession of Faith

As we come from the sanitary system and thus know all the deficits of this system, we tried to establish an institution that should combine the advantages of a much better organisation in a private system, being widely accessible, as in the public sector. One of our beliefs was and still is that access to health needs to be guaranteed to everyone, beyond the material or social status.

As well the out-patient's clinic, as the Oncology Centre OncoHelp are part of a project for everybody, it is not only an institution for the rich. Next to the specialist medical support for the patients, we always considered cancer as a disease, where psychological support for the patients is crucial.
The confrontation of the sick person with the great mysteries of life arouses a spiritual storm that can be influenced a lot by the relation with the family physician and by emphatic and professional counselling.

We inaugurated an approach that is little spread in our country – the psychological counselling in oncology. We also supported organising support groups, which gather patients with a certain problem for the psychological group counselling. These support groups are also important for the families of the patients. Respect for the patients and for his time is another dimension of our approach. We tried to offer them confidence, optimism and professionalism and we are happy to see, after 6 years of experience, that the patients permanently notice the difference between the state system and our approach, regarding the way they are treated. We fought and continuously fight to demonstrate that, beyond the medical technology, we are willing to stand by those in distress. Our know-how, the accumulated experience and the desire to overcome the disease have been canalised to the belief that medicine is an art of compassion and a mission of the soul.