On May 8th, 2024, the Faculty of Dentistry in Tishk International University (TIU), paid a visit to Nanakali Hospital as part of the ongoing community service project. The visit was supervised by Dean of Students Committee Member, Ms. Zainab Hassan and accompanied by the Dean of Students Representative at the Faculty of Dentistry, Mr Ercan Sezer.
The community service project aimed at making children with cancer happy and spending quality time with them. First-stage faculty students participated in this project as part of their requirement in the Interpersonal Dynamics and Character-building Course. Funds were collected, and gifts were bought including toys, color pens, story books, and coloring notebooks.
A group of 35 students, accompanied by their supervisor, visited the hospital. A hall was prepared for receiving 52 cancer children with their parents. A speech was delivered by the first-grade instructor and supervisor at the Faculty of Dentistry, Ms. Zainab Hassan, in which she talked about the aim of the visit and guided the gift-distributing process. Later, the students distributed the gifts to the children while showing care, which was the reason for the happiness and excitement of those children. Later, the children with cancer in the intensive care unit were visited, and gifts were distributed to them as well. The students motivated the children and wished them all good health.
Community service projects aim at helping people in need, the sick, and whoever has a problem in society. Community service also allows young people to build discipline, foster respect for others, promote civic responsibility, and participate in real-world career-related experiences. Tishk International University pays extra care to community service projects and encourages its students and staff to participate in such projects.
We thank all the students who participated in this project and made it possible; without you, this would not have been accomplished. And we hope you gained insight into the problems our society and sick people like cancer children endure and learned a lesson from which we should always help each other and become a means for making the struggles of society less.
Keywords: Cancer, Cancer Patients, Medical Students, University Students, Mental Health, Participation
