Bucharest, September 20, 2018 – The Ploieşti Blood Transfusion Center was upgraded during the 2017-2018 phase of the „A Chance for Life” program implemented under the partnership between the Vodafone Romania Foundation and the React Association. The modernization of the Blood Transfusion Center in Ploiesti has included the renovation of the spaces covering the donor’s route, the medical consultation rooms and the support rooms, covering a total area of almost 1,700 square meters, as well as the equipping of the center with specific furniture for the waiting area. The funding provided by Vodafone Romania Foundation to this project amounts to almost 150,000 RON.
The Center in Ploiesti is the second blood transfusion center in Romania after that in Bucharest, in terms of work load and contribution to meeting the demand for blood and blood products of the hospitals in Bucharest. The center has been active for more than 50 years and has not been renovated since 1999. It currently serves 10 hospitals in Prahova County, from where blood is supplied to blood transfusion centers in other areas of the country, too. Last year, nearly 23,000 donors were registered in the town of Ploiesti and the number of patients receiving blood and blood products reached almost 64,800.
The project in Ploiesti is the fourth to have been completed in the current stage of the „A Chance for Life” program, after those recently finished in Satu Mare, Sibiu and Pitesti. This last stage of the program includes, in total, the rehabilitation and upgrading of the donor’s route from 24 blood transfusion centers, out of the 42 centers currently in operation across the country. The first 18 centers were upgraded during the 2014-2016 stage. It is estimated that the renovation and endowment of the centers with medical furniture and equipment will lead to an increase in the total number of blood donors and recipient patients to nearly 1,260,000.
„A Chance for Life” program was launched in 2008, with the funding supplied by Vodafone Romania Foundation worth about 1.5 MEUR. After its launch, the program has become the largest national blood donation program in Romania. The program started with several annual information and education sessions, meant to raise awareness of the importance of voluntary and regular blood donation, and continued with mobile blood donation campaigns organized in public places, at university campuses and at company headquarters. In 2014, the program was expanded by adding the rehabilitation and equipping of blood transfusion centers. The Bucharest Blood Transfusion Center, the largest in Romania, was the first to benefit from this program.
As a result of the „A Chance for Life” program, blood transfusion centers in Romania recorded in 2016 a decrease in the average age of blood donors at national level, for the first time since 1989. Currently, 30% of the blood donated at national level comes from young donors.
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 nonprofit partner organizations. More details about the Foundation’s programs are available at www.Fundația-vodafone.ro, http://jurnaldebine.Fundația-vodafone.ro/ and www.facebook.com/Fundațiavodafone
The React Association is a non-governmental organization that significantly participates in the development of the four pillars of any prosperous community: health, education, social economy and community development. The projects implemented by the Association are bringing major changes for the better in people’s lives, thanks to tailored interventions and active involvement. During the eleven years of existence, almost 1 million Romanians have benefited, directly or indirectly, from the activities run by the React Association. The positive impact of its projects is acknowledged by the 18 national and international prizes of excellence it has been awarded so far, which places the Association among the non-governmental organizations in Romania, winners of the largest number of prizes.
