Fundación Aladina

History

In the year 2001, Paco Arango, creator and producer of the series ¡Ala... Dina!, began working in the Hospital Niño Jesús as a volunteer in the Oncology section. He comments on his experience, sharing that:

"I used to spend some hours sharing games with children with cancer. Little by little I began to establish friendships with the families and the children, many of them teenagers, who couldn't or didn't want to go to the games room. That changed my life and, what used to be weekly visit, ended up being a daily activity"

Through this experience and with the potential promise of being able to meet specific needs of the patients and their families, he decided to start Fundación Aladina in the year 2005 in the Hospital Niño Jesús.

In 2013, they created the Maktub Center in the same hospital, opening up the possibility of extending their reach to other hospitals in Madrid with different Volunteer programs that also offered material and psychological help for the patients with cancer. Since then, different programs have been developed in various hospitals throughout Spain, reaching more than 1,200 patients every year. Thanks to their work, they have received many acknowledgements and prizes.

Volunteer work

The volunteers of the foundation play a very important role, keeping the patients company during the time they spend in the hospital. The volunteers dedicate their afternoons to spending time with the teenagers, and helping them with different activities, giving them moments in which they can forget they are in a hospital. The effectiveness of ludic activities and diversion has been proven by numerous scientific investigations as a way of helping children keep their will to live.

The different volunteer programs help by hosting workshops and ludic activities as means of therapy. Through them, children and teenagers learn to adapt to their new situation and their illness without losing their joy and maintaining their will to be cured. During the days in which there are no workshops, teenagers can go to the game zone accompanied by the volunteers to relax and forget about their stay in the hospital.

Aladina´s ICU in the Niño Jesus Hospital

Launched in February 2016, the campaign is already underway to raise the 1,300,000€ needed for the renovation to take place. Part of the campaign includes sending a text to donate money to the project.

The remodel will include 14 beds with robotic arms, 6 private units, and will give control over natural and artificial light while being energy efficient. This project is being realized through the "Achuchón" campaign, which began in February 2016. In spanish achuchón means both hug and push, and their campaign slogan is to give an "achuchón" for the new ICU at the hospital, meaning to give both a hug but also a push in the direction on the renovation.

Maktub Center

In February 2013, Fundación Aladina inaugurated the Maktub Center, which had been the most ambitious project until the launch of their latest campaign to renovate the entire ICU at the Niño Jesus Hospital. In the first twelve months at the Maktub center there were 63 transplants.

Maktub Center cost more than €500,000 and is equipped with the latest technological advancements. It has been designed as a center in which patients can feel comfortable, as the atmosphere is ideal for their recovery during the long periods of time they must spend here.

The project was mainly financed by the benefits received from the movie Maktub, which was directed and produced by the president, Paco Arango, as well as with the collaboration of other organizations and individuals who decided to support this important project.

Regional Mothers-Milk Bank Aladina-MGU

Apart from all the reforms made for patients with cancer, the foundation has also reformed the Mothers Milk Bank of the Hospital Doce de Octubre. It is the first bank of this type in all the peninsula and has been fully functioning since 2007. Up to the date of the reform, it was equipped with a system that could provide 600 liters of breast milk every year for children that couldn't be breast fed by their mothers. Once the reform was done, the hospital was prepared with a regional bank, allowing them to give out 2,000 liters of breast milk to all the Community of Madrid

Psychological support

Fundación Aladina provides free psychological help to patients and their families. They have an expert psycho-oncologist in the Hospital Niño Jesús, as well as a private psychological consultation (completely free) in which there are individual sessions, for couples and for families. There is also a "Grief group", where the parents of children who lost their battle with cancer can express their emotions and sentiments freely after the loss of a child, share their experiences and fears, and most of all, feel that they're not alone.

Awards and acknowledgments

Throughout the years, the work of Fundación Aladina has been acknowledged through many awards. Among those, we find: