- In the first four months, the caravan will reach 32 towns in 16 counties plus Bucharest
Bucharest, February 28, 2018 – The “Be Prepared!” SMURD caravan, which trains the population how to react in emergency situations, continues its travel for the third consecutive year in 2018, planning to reach 75 localities from all over the country by end of the year. This is a project of the Emergency Department, run by the General Inspectorate for Emergency Situations and supported by the Foundation for SMURD, with the financial assistance of the Vodafone Romania Foundation. The funds granted so far by Vodafone Romania Foundation to this project amount to 400,000 euro out of the total project budget of 520,000 euros.
Between March and June 2018, the “Be Prepared!” Caravan will perform training in Bucharest and in 32 other towns from 16 counties across the country. The first towns the Caravan will travel to are Brasov, Fagaras, Bistrita, Sangeorz Bai, Cluj -Napoca, Huedin, Deva, Brad and Alba Iulia.
Details of the caravan calendar and the registration form for those who wish to attend the first aid courses are available both at http://fundatiapentrusmurd.ro/ and in the DSU application of the Departamentul pentru Situații de Urgență, available in the Apple Store and Google Play.
In the first two years after its launch, the caravan has travelled over 35,000 kilometres to 77 localities. More than 200 ISU volunteers, paramedics and trainers have actively participated in the training of over 20,000 people, delivering nearly 1,000 training sessions. The total number of beneficiaries is over 100,000 people, who are now informed and know how to react in emergency situation.
“The “Be prepared!” Caravan is one of the projects developed under our partnership with Foundation for SMURD. Collaboration with this organization started in 2005 by equipping SMURD ambulances with a telemedicine system, the first solution of this kind ever implemented in Romania”, said Angela Galeța, Director of the Vodafone Romania Foundation.
“The caravan was designed to educate the population, adults, children and young people alike, in the field of first aid and how to react in case of calamity. After the first two years of activity, the figures show that the caravan training room was always full of trainees. About 40% of the course beneficiaries were children and young people and these facts confirm that we assessed their needs correctly.” said Dr. Raed Arafat, founder of SMURD
The caravan consists of a mobile centre mounted on the structure of a lorry, comprising a 40-seat training room equipped with all the necessary medical and first aid equipment. The training courses are addressed to both the population and to emergency professionals and are delivered by specialized trainers, who are IGSU employees. The training module includes screenings of films made by the Emergency Department and the General Inspectorate for Emergency Situations, plus a session of interactive demonstrations performed by SMURD paramedics.
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, the Vodafone Romania Foundation has invested over 28 million euros in projects run by non-profit 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
Foundation for SMURD is a non-governmental organization established in 2006 as a private, non-profit, apolitical legal entity, managed independently of any other Romanian or foreign body corporate or individuals, whose purpose is to support through its projects the activity of the Mobile Emergency Service for Resuscitation and Extrication (SMURD). The mission of Foundation for SMURD is to contribute to improving the quality of life of the people living and working in Romania by supporting the development of an integrated medical and technical emergency and first aid system.
Foundation for SMURD works independently and on a non-profit basis, helping to build a strong and integrated health care, emergency and first aid system through sustainable partnerships with competent institutions such as, but not limited to, the Ministry of Administration and Interior, via the General Inspectorate for Emergency Situations and Special Aviation Unit, the Ministry of Health, the local public administrations and the companies and organizations that are socially responsible and willing to get involved in the foundation’s projects. For more details about the foundation’s projects, please visit www.fundatiapentrusmurd.ro.
