CRC, Community Resource Center
CRC, the Community Resource Center, has a complete range of programs and services that support long-term medical and community initiatives for SHCH's HIV patients that go well beyond the periphery of hospital visits. Patients diagnosed with HIV at SHCH are sent to the CRC for counseling, group meetings, ART drug distribution, and routine doctor's visits. The CRC is housed in a separate building 1km away from SHCH in Phnom Penh.
CRC offers numerous programs and services outside the scope of traditional medical care to our patients and families, including financial and school support for widows and their children, job training for women who have lost spouses to AIDS, and family placement for orphans whose parents have died from AIDS. Currently, CRC distributes ART drugs to well over 1,000 HIV+ patients.
It is a strategic plan at HOPE worldwide to provide financial, emotional, and medical support to stabilize and address the needs of our individual patients and their extended families, particularly children and widows, who are affected by an ill patient. Coordination with outside clinicians, social service agencies/local NGOs and patient families helps to ensure a smooth transition amongst different levels of care.
CRC pays special attention to the vulnerability of youth. Our programs support HIV prevention, assist youth of HIV-infected parents in educational endeavors, address the impact of HIV on a family/community by providing financial assistance to families who are without an income source, and educate the community to reduce stigmas and discrimination for HIV patients. Several of our programs center around ensuring the educational stability of children of infected parents and providing them financial support to continue with their education.
CRC also focusses heavily on women. Job retraining and income assistance for widows is a key way that we help women. Due to the lack of economic parity for women and fewer educational opportunities for women in Cambodia, widows may find it difficult to find employment. We provide vocational training for widows and assist them with financial support while they are in transition.
Our commitment to the process of healthcare at several stages of HIV means that several of our programs provide weekly aftercare meetings for patients who participated in treatment. These support groups provide patients with an opportunity to meet others with similar problems and share their experiences, worries, strengths and hopes.
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CRC Services and Resources include but are not limited to:
- Supportive Services -- Services are available to address both the immediate and long term needs of patients, such as education, employment assistance, health care, mental health care, child care, and other services.
- Supporting Kids Going to School – We provide educational support to encourage the children of HIV+ patients to stay in school and continue their education. School supplies, uniforms, and fees are provided by our Continuum of Care program.
- Helping Widows with Training and Financial Assistance– We help widows of AIDS patients to stabilize their lives with financial, social, and emotional support.. Due to the lack of economic parity in women’s roles in Cambodia, widows may find it difficult to find employment. We provide vocational training for widows and assist them with financial support while they are in transition.
- Community Support Groups –We began one of the first HIV+ support weekly patient-run support groups in Cambodia. We encourage patients to participate in support groups and to seek as much emotional support from the community as possible. We are proud to note that several program alumni continue to come to meetings several years after their treatment episode. They continue to gain support while serving as an example to others that treatment does work.
- Orphans and Vulnerable Children – When children are left without parents because of AIDS, they must be supported. We aim to continue the education of orphans and to seek proper placement of the children in family homes, or appropriate orphanages in Phnom Penh. We supply uniforms, books, and school fees for the children of our patients in CRC.
Community Programs - We run after-school activities for the youth who have parents infected with HIV. For instance, we take the children on community programs to the waterpark and excursions in and around Phnom Penh, as a way to encourage them and build their spirits.