- The ORL department of the hospital was endowed in 2017 with state-of-the-art equipment worth a funding of over 135,000 euros under the project „Hearing is a Gift. Don’t Ignore It!”
- 900 children have benefited from the project from 2016 to date
Bucharest, March 7, 2018 – Over 380 children with hearing problems from all over the country have benefited from various medical services between September 2017 and January 2018 at the Department of Otolaryngology of the Dr. Victor Gomoiu Children’s Hospital, provided by means of modern and ultra-high-performance equipment purchased under the project “Hearing is a Gift. Don’t Ignore It!”. Among other, otomicroscopic controls, tympanotomy, Diabolo tube fitting interventions, various types of petro-mastoid excisions, as well as more complex surgery have been provided. By June 2018, at this stage of the project, there will be a total of 500 children with hearing problems who will benefit from treatment at highest standards, performed by modern equipment.
The department was equipped in 2017 by a financing of over 135,000 euros provided in partnership by the Vodafone Romania Foundation, the hospital and the Smiling Faces Association, with the Foundation’s investment amounting to 90,000 euros through the „Connecting for Good” program. The new equipment provided last year to the ORL section of the hospital includes a Zeiss surgery microscope, a facial nerve monitoring sensor, surgical cutters and cofosurgery instruments for the surgery unit of the department.
In addition, between September 2017 and January 2018, doctors involved in the project „Hearing is a Gift. Don’t Ignore It!” have participated in training courses, workshops and national and international training sessions in surgical techniques.
The project „Hearing is a Gift. Don’t Ignore It!” was launched in 2016 and started with the establishment of the audiology laboratory within the department. Since the beginning of the project and up until present, almost 900 children have benefited from different medical procedures performed by the new equipment of the laboratory and the surgery unit – hearing tests, interventions and modern treatments.
At present, over 2 million people in Romania suffer from impaired hearing. The percentage of infants affected by deafness is 1-3 copies in 1,000 births, plus the children whose hearing problems are caused by various illnesses or accidents.
“Hearing is a Gift. Don’t Ignore It! „Is a project that aims, among other things, to educate people and to raise public awareness of the need for postnatal auditory screening and audiology tests. The project began with the establishment of the audiology laboratory of the Otolaryngology Department of the Dr. Victor Gomoiu Children’s Hospital, a laboratory that started its activity in August 2016.
The Vodafone Romania Foundation is a Romanian nongovernmental charitable organization, established in 1998, which operates separately and independently from the Vodafone Romania SA’s business. During its 20 years of activity, Vodafone Romania Foundation has funded 1,104 programs run by 706 NGOs throughout the country, in the fields of healthcare, education and social services. These projects had a total of 2.7 million beneficiaries – children, young and old people and physically, socially or economically disadvantaged people. So far, Vodafone Romania has invested over 28 million euros in projects run by nonprofit partner organizations. More details about the Foundation’s programs are available at fundatia-vodafone.ro, http://jurnaldebine.fundatia-vodafone.ro/ and www.facebook.com/fundatiavodafone.
The Smiling Faces Association Romania is a non-governmental organization whose mission is to support people with sensory impairments through projects that facilitate access to appropriate diagnosis and treatment. The association’s projects are aimed at increasing the awareness about hearing impairment in children and about how important the postnatal auditory screening and of the audiology tests in all children with suspected hypoacusis are to establishing a certain diagnosis and the appropriate treatment. More details about the Smiling Faces Association are available at http://www.malformatiifaciale.org.ro/en/index.jsp
