​Vodafone Romania Foundation is changing the grim reality of domestic maternity hospitals with the largest investment in medicine. Angela Galeta, director of the Foundation, explains what the Life for Newborns Fund consists of and how a donation of 2 euros changes life and death.

What needs did you find on the ground, in maternity hospitals?

Angela Galeta, Vodafone Foundation: At the moment, only 9% of hospitals in Romania have level III wards equipped with all the necessary equipment for intensive care of newborns. These are approximately 25 departments located in 14 major cities of the country, in the counties of Timișoara, Bihor, Cluj, Mures, Sibiu, Brasov, Dolj, Dambovitsa, Constanta, Galați, Bacău, Iasi, Suceava and in Bucharest. The remaining 91% of the wards are level I and II wards, poorly equipped and with many needs.

What remains the most common problem from what you have identified on the ground through the projects you have carried out over the last 10 years with the Vodafone Romania Foundation?

Angela Galeta, Vodafone Foundation: In general, the problems are related to the equipment and the crisis of specialists, because neonatology has certain peculiarities. Patients are very fragile, everything is very small. Caring for them requires certain knowledge and skills.

Is birth still discriminatory in Romania? How important is it for a child who is born with health problems that he was born in Craiova, Botošan or Nova Moldavia?

Angela Galeta, Vodafone Foundation: For a child born with health problems, the place of birth is very important. If you are born in a properly equipped ward where a correct diagnosis can be made quickly, where there is equipment to provide appropriate treatment or stabilization and transport to a higher-ranking ward, the chances of survival and recovery will be high. . It so happened that we have endowment projects in all three cities mentioned above: Botosani and Craiova completed, Moldova Nouă in the implementation stage.

What are the plans to support these babies through the Newborn Fund, a program you manage?

Angela Galeta, Vodafone Foundation: Vodafone Romania Foundation has been involved in the field of neonatology since 10 years ago, when the construction of the Neonatal Intensive Care Unit at the Marie Curie Hospital in Bucharest started from scratch. At the moment, the Marie Curie department is considered the most modern department of its type in Southeast Europe. Last year, we equipped 6 wards in Mediaş, Tirgu Mures, Karancebeş, Craiova, Botosani and Slatin with medical equipment. This year, 4 more cities will follow (Kampulung-Muscel, Cluj, Ludus and Moldova-Noua). Through the Life for Newborns Foundation, we will continue to act on three levels: we will equip as many first and second level wards as possible in the country with equipment and apparatus, we will support a training and specialization program for the medical staff of the neonatology departments where we intervene, and last but not least , we will connect as many branches as possible to the national telemedicine network. Children should have the same chance at life no matter where they are born!

Why should you pay attention to the “Life Fund for Newborns” program?

Angela Galeta, Vodafone Foundation: Because it is terrible to lose a child and because it is terrible that we are still the country in Europe with the highest child mortality. I believe that it is within our power, all of us, to contribute to changing these statistics. It is important that we all participate, at the individual level, at the level of civil society, at the level of companies. We always say that “Together we can do something” and the truth is that no one does anything alone. Companies can be large, financial, technology, networks of employees involved in supporting social projects. Everyone’s input is extremely valuable in this ecosystem. As individuals, we can make a donation by texting RITM to 8845 – a monthly donation of 2 euros, we can redirect 3.5% of the income tax, and companies can sponsor the Vodafone Romania fund for the purchase of level I medical equipment and II department. All methods of donation are presented on our website: https://fundatia-vodafone.ro/tine-romania-in-viata/

How easy or difficult is it to launch such a program in Romania?

Angela Galeta, Fundația Vodafone: It is not easy and sometimes very difficult. But no matter how difficult it may seem at a certain moment, every life saved, every child who has a chance for a good start in life, is worth all our efforts.

Vodafone Romania Foundation recently announced that it supports the connection of 17 neonatal intensive care units to the national telemedicine network. How will it happen and what will it change?

Angela Galeta, Vodafone Foundation: Until recently, Romania had 10 wards and neonatal intensive care units connected to the national telemedicine network, three of which were equipped with telemedicine systems thanks to projects funded by the Vodafone Romania Foundation. The starting point was three years ago, when Dr. Cătălin Cîrstoveanu united the first eight departments of neonatology in a telemedicine network with the help of a European project. The phase that we have announced and that we are carrying out in partnership with ACV Romania marks a very important milestone: at the end of the project, all 25 level III neonatal intensive care units in the country and two levels of them will be connected to each of them. another. Telemedicine allows doctors to quickly contact specialists from other health care facilities located in the country or abroad, transfer secure medical data, consult with multidisciplinary teams, and quickly make decisions related to the treatment or transfer of a patient. The secure system allows you to connect medical devices (ultrasound, EKG, monitor of vital functions, etc.) so that doctors in the teleconference can see the condition of the newborn in real time. Let’s not forget that only about 9% of health care facilities located in large cities have departments with equipment and specialists who can handle complex medical cases. In the future, telemedicine systems will be able to connect specialists with patients in small towns, increasing the chances of survival and recovery of children born with health problems.

How do you cooperate with doctors, with those who manage the maternity hospitals in which you intervene?

Angela Galeta, Vodafone Foundation: The availability of doctors and authorities to work with us is one of the criteria we look at when we decide to intervene in a ward. Experience shows that without such cooperation projects are not viable.

Are doctors in Romania still forced to choose which child needs a particular device more? Now in 2023?

Unfortunately, such situations can happen. Therefore, it is very important to properly equip the wards. The better equipped the department is, the lower the risk of being in a situation where you have to make such a choice.

Article supported by Vodafone Foundation