- The value of the project is estimated at 3.4 million euros
- Within the Gala, five awards were given to people active in the community
Bucharest, October 22, 2019 – The Vodafone Romania Foundation continues to be involved in the modernization of intensive care units for newborns across Romania and announces at the Annual Gala the Expansion of the Neonatal Intensive Care Unit of the Maria Sklodowska Curie Emergency Hospital in Bucharest. The project value is estimated at 3.4 million euros. The Vodafone Romania Foundation will contribute 1.5 million euros to the project budget, organize campaigns to attract additional funds and ensure the project management.
„Six years have passed from the opening of the New-born Intensive Care Unit at Maria Sklodowska Curie Emergency Clinic Hospital and we, again, have waiting lists for hospital admittance. The most difficult cases in the country are send here; the department has reached its maximum capacity and therefore needs to be expanded. We will use the experience gained from previous projects and join forces with other funders to successfully complete this project and give newborns with serious health problems a chance at survival. We need the help of other responsible companies for completing this project, therefore we invite them to join our initiative”, says Angela Galeța, Director of the Vodafone Romania Foundation.
The completion of the project will take about two years. A surface of 2,100 square meters spread over three levels will be built featuring an additional intensive care area, an additional post-therapy area and additional spaces for parents’ accommodation. Moreover, the breast milk bank will be enlarged, a clinical pharmacy will be built and a center of excellence will be created for the continuous training of the medical staff working in the intensive care, neonatology and pediatric departments throughout the country.
The Newborn Intensive Care Unit from the Maria Sklodowska Curie Emergency Hospital was built in 2012 through a partnership with the Inima Copiilor Association. Between 2017 and 2019, in partnership with the Dăruieşte Aripi and Inima Copiilor Associations, the Vodafone Romania Foundation has modernized the Neonatal Intensive Care Unit at St. Andrew County Hospital in Constanța. Both units were equipped with powerful telemedicine solutions. The telemedicine solutions offer a video surveillance system for patients. Each room is equipped with a surveillance camera, which, in case of emergency, can zoom in on the vital functions monitors mounted on pendants. The telemedicine solutions enable real time, secure transmission of medical images and parameters, remote monitoring of the vital signs of the patients and the organization of video conferences.
Every year, the Gala of the Vodafone Romania Foundation recognizes the outstanding contributions of people, partner NGOs and volunteer teams involved in the Foundation’s programs, by awarding prizes. The winners of 2019 in the four categories: health, education, social services and volunteering were decided following the votes cast on https://voteaza-gala.fundatia-vodafone.ro/. The winners are: Adrian Hochia Rural Investment Program run by Fundația Regală Margareta a României (Education Award), dr. Cătălin Cîrstoveanu, Head of the Neonatal Intensive Care Unit of Maria Sklodowska Curie Hospital in Bucharest (Health Award), Ciprian Drăguș, Școală pentru o meserie. Școală pentru viață! Program of the Humanitarian Organization CONCORDIA (Award for Social Services), the Volunteer Team Brighter Future from Vodafone Romania Technology Shared Services (Award for Volunteering). The special award went to Iulian Rizea from the Romanian Business Leaders Foundation for supporting social entrepreneurship initiatives through the Antreprenoria Program.
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 1,132 programs run by 730 NGOs throughout the country, in the fields of healthcare, education and social services. These projects had 3 million beneficiaries – children, young and old people, physically, socially or economically disadvantaged. So far, the Vodafone Romania Foundation has invested over 30 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.
