Who are we

ANGSANAcare’s mission is to provide counselling, creative arts and holistic therapies to hospitalised children and families requiring palliative care. We aim to reduce their stress and suffering whilst creating a positive and stimulating environment during their last days together. Our vision is that we become the leading non-governmental organisation providing complementary palliative care services to underprivileged children and their families in Malaysia.

ANGSANAcare is a fully registered not-for-profit Malaysian Society created as a support service to palliative care for underprivileged paediatric patients and their families in Government hospitals in Malaysia. Our services are free of charge. We depend completely on public and corporate funding and are not affiliated to any political or religious groups.

In 2011, Dr Loh Ee Chin of UMMC identified a need for a type of special care for her palliative care patients who were suffering enormous pain and extreme stress. In Singapore and in most Western countries, doctors were tapping into the expertise of art, play and music therapies that were not often used in Malaysia. Dr. Loh was determined to introduce such complementary support for the children in her care. She approached a music therapist in Kuala Lumpur who was eager to volunteer her services. The benefits of this type of therapy were immediately evident. She discovered that the children were becoming less fearful and, in turn, experiencing less pain. A sense of calm and internal well-being was restored to them. Singing or playing with musical instruments with the therapist allowed children to experience joy; songs and poetry helped them to express their innermost fears for the future.

The next step was to secure funding for this pilot programme. Ms. Chung, herself a cancer survivor, generously offered her financial support; for three years she paid for a music therapist at University Malaya medical Centre.

In 2014, Dr. Loh trained a younger paediatrician, Dr. Lee Chee Chan, in Palliative Care. He too was drawn to music therapy, recognising its benefits as a complementary component to his medical care. The doctors together decided to expand these services to more families. This would now be beyond the capacity of a few individuals so Ms Chung approached Datin Catherine Lai who already ran another charity and had her hands full.  Catherine, having mulled over the idea for a couple of months, invited her friend, Ria Thomas; someone she knew would make a serious commitment to the initiative, to the next meeting with the doctors. To her complete surprise, Ria, who thought she was just attending a meeting, was asked to become the Chairperson of this new and yet unnamed entity.

Ria Thomas founded the new Society, ANGSANAcare.  She picked a committee of dedicated members whose comprehensive vision was to offer much more than expressive arts therapy alone. The ‘A Little Wish’ programme was introduced and the support network was expanded to include group sessions for children in art and music. The enthusiasm and hard work of this team, led to the inauguration and registration of ANGSANAcare, a new Malaysian Society, on the 3rd March 2015.

ANGSANAcare