Young cancer patients benefit from collaboration between MITA and Puttinu Cares

Children receiving cancer treatment, benefit from charitable technological donations by MITA in collaboration with Puttinu Cares.

MITA Chairman Godwin Grima presents a donation to Puttinu Cares Chairman, Victor Calvagna
MITA Chairman Godwin Grima presents a donation to Puttinu Cares Chairman, Victor Calvagna

The Malta Information Technology Agency (MITA) today announced the collaboration between MITA, some of its suppliers and Puttinu Cares Foundation. 

The project started in 2010 by analysing the needs of Puttinu Cares. MITA then developed a programme of initiatives to address these needs and simultaneously support young patients and their families with the use of technology.

MITA Chairman Godwin Grima explained how the programme was tailor-made to cater for the needs of children to keep in touch with family and friends while receiving treatment in Malta and abroad, often requiring several months. 

“Works started at the Rainbow Ward within Mater Dei Hospital and then moved to the Puttinu Cares flats in the UK. The programme of works involved a strong aspect of volunteering from MITA staff as well as a sense of goodwill from a number of suppliers which work with MITA.  Such altruistic activities bring people from different organisations together with the aim of giving something back and improving the quality of life of others,” Grima said. 

Following a presentation about the works carried out so far, Grima presented co-founder and chairman of Puttinu Cares Foundation Victor Calvagna with networking and telephone equipment worth €4,500 and a cash donation of €3,600, which was collected from the contractors assigned at the MITA-01 data centre.

Initiatives at Rainbow Ward, Mater Dei Hospital

MITA and the Malta Communications Authority (MCA) donated four refurbished PCs to facilitate group activities on the PCs in the Rainbow Ward playroom.

GO plc also provided internet connections to each of these PCs to allow patients to surf the internet. 

ICT Solutions also set up Wi-Fi access throughout the entire ward and an Interactive Whiteboard, donated by Jos Vincenti & Co Ltd, was also placed in the playroom to allow integration of audio, video, graphics, text and animation to enable group activities and interactive learning that is engaging and fun.

To further promote the use of technology in fun activities, IMS Ltd donated a WeDo Construction Set allowing children to build and programme simple LEGO models that are plugged into a computer.

Video-conferencing facilities between the Rainbow Ward in Malta and the flats in UK were also set up with the help of Cisco.

These facilities allow nurses, doctors and patients’ relatives to see and talk live with the young patients and their families in the UK.

A new website for Puttinu Cares was also developed by the Ministry for Infrastructure, Transport and Communications and 2i Ltd to inform the public about upcoming events and other information.

MITA employees also voluntarily taught children and their families how to use the technology provided.

Fun activities were also organised by these volunteers using both educational software and computer games and non-ICT activities such as crafts, story-telling and cooking.

Software as well as ‘train the trainer sessions’ for MITA volunteers were provided by the staff at the e-Learning Centre within the Ministry for Education and Employment.

Initiatives at Puttinu Cares Flats, Sutton, UK

Puttinu Cares recently acquired the second block of 12 apartments in the UK. MITA and its suppliers provided Internet and Wi-Fi via a structured cabling system for the entire block to cater for voice and data communication through all apartments. 

MITA explained that this will facilitate the use of widely available communication resources such as teleconferencing, social media and e-mail. The networking equipment, worth around €2,500, was donated by MITA.

Additionally, telephone extensions throughout both blocks were done to provide seamless telephony services between apartments within the same block and within the two blocks, direct telephone extension to Puttinu Cares in Malta and low-cost telephony to and from Malta. 

A direct dial-in with a Malta telephone number was also setup.  The telephony equipment, worth approx €2,000, was donated by Tenovar.