- Funding was announced at the Connecting for Good 2018 conference
- In its 20 years of existence, the foundation has invested EUR 17 million in health projects
Bucharest, June 21, 2018 – The Vodafone Romania Foundation invests EUR 1.1 million in the Newborn Intensive Care Unit Rehabilitation Project at the Constanta County Hospital, an endeavour started in August 2017 and currently underway. The announcement was made at the annual Connecting for Good conference, which brings together NGOs, beneficiaries of the foundation’s programs and media.
Upon the launch of this project in 2016, the Foundation had announced that the necessary budget, estimated at EUR 1.3 million, was going to be raised via a donation and sponsorship campaign run by the two partners in project, i.e. the associations Daruieste Aripi and Inima Copiilor, while the Foundation was going to double the funds so raised. Following an estimated increase of EUR 200,000 of the initial project budget (up to a total of EUR 1.5 million ) resulting mainly from unforeseen additional works, the Vodafone Romania Foundation has announced, at the above mentioned conference, its EUR 1.1 million investment in the Newborn Intensive Care Unit at Constanta County Hospital.
„The project in Constanta is one of the most important and ample initiatives in which the Foundation has been involved in its 20 years of existence. We have already gone through several important stages, and the change is already visible. Given the high complexity of the project, we chose to involve ourselves not only by the funding we have announced today, which will cover most of the budget needed to complete the renovation of the new care unit, but also by taking over activities directly related to the management of the project „, says Angela Galeta , Director of the Vodafone Romania Foundation.
Following the reconstruction works started in August 2017, the Newborn Intensive Care Unit of the Constanta County Hospital has already been equipped with a new structure replacing of the old one, the walls presenting structural deficiencies have been rebuilt, the indoor space has been repartitioned and a new exterior steel structure, meant to support the medical air conditioning equipment, has been designed. The core infrastructure for the mounting of the electrical installation has also been completed.
Healthcare is one of the four strategic investment areas for the Vodafone Romania Foundation, alongside education, social services and volunteering. In its 20 years of activity, the foundation has invested nearly Euro 17 million in nationwide initiatives in this field, with more than half of the annual budget being directed to such projects. One of these projects was the building of the Newborn Intensive Care Unit of the Marie Curie Hospital in Bucharest with an investment of about EUR 1.8 million, presently the most modern of its kind in South-Eastern Europe. The Newborn Intensive Care Unit in Constanta will be rebuilt using the unit in Marie Curie as a model, and will be fitted with a telemedicine solution that will allow the secure and real time transmission of medical images and parameters and the remote monitoring of patients’ vital signs. The telemedicine solution in Constanta will be the tenth solution of this kind in Romania. The first one was implemented in 2005 on the SMURD ambulances, also with the support of the Vodafone Romania Foundation.
At the Connecting for Good Conference, the Vodafone Romania Foundation and its partners presented several healthcare and education programs of national impact funded by the foundation during its twenty years of activity. One of these is the renovation and modernization of the donor’s route in the 42 blood transfusion centers from all over the country. The program is due to be completed in 2018, with the total investment made by the foundation exceeding EUR 1 million.
In the field of education, the Foundation runs the national strategic program “Investing in Rural Areas”, which aims to ensure access to education for all children, regardless of their background, and to support the underprivileged social categories. Launched in 2015, the program has so far received a total funding of more than EUR 1.3 million from the foundation, providing social welfare scholarships, renovating schools and kindergartens, funding social service centers for people with special needs, and a one-of-a-kind project – a community laundry. In its latest edition the program has funded a total of 13 School After School Centers. More than 60,000 people have received support under this program so far.
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 EUR 28 million 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
