Cancer is the most frightening word a parent can hear. In Brazil, where the best treatment can be far from a family home GRAACC (Grupo de Apoio ao Adolescente e Criansa com Cancer — Support Group for Adolescents and Children with Cancer) offers personalized, humanized and scientifically advanced treatment. But beyond finding a cure, GRAACC is concerned with the quality of life that the children adolescents and their families have outside of treatment.
Since it began operations in 1991, GRAACC has evolved year after year, increasing treatment quality, opening a patient home to support families, constructing a new hospital, training medical professionals, and supporting groundbreaking treatments and research. In 2011 GRAACC served more than 2,700 children and adolescents. It performed 23,051 medical consultations, 17,233 rounds of chemotherapy, 1,476 surgeries, 24,687 exams, and 49 bone marrow transplants, among other procedures.
For several years now, GRAACC has counted on TechSoup Brazil to keep its systems up-to-date. It has received Windows Enterprise Server, software Microsoft Office Professional licenses, and Exchange Server software. These donations via TechSoup allow GRAACC to be on equal technologic footing with the private sector in spite of its public sector budget. Thanks to donated technology, GRAACC is able to work more efficiently, raise funds more successfully, and analyze data more effectively — all without a financial burden to the organization.