Projects Archives - Page 4 of 4 - Robert Burns International Foundation

The Robert Burns International Foundation has donated equipment to the 2^nd Department of Paediatrics at Semmelweis University in Tűzoltó utca every year since the Foundation was established in 1998.

We support other hospitals as well but why have we given continuous annual support to this hospital? The main reason is that the Tűzoltó utca hospital is the principal children’s hospital not just in Budapest but for the whole of Hungary. Children needing special treatment are often transferred here from other hospitals. So it has frequently made sense to help ensure this hospital has the equipment needed to offer the best available support for sick children in Hungary.

On 14 November 2019, Lesley Anne Füzes, Douglas Arnott, András Moldovan and David Thompson representing the Foundation visited the hospital to meet our medical advisor, Professor György Fekete, and senior members of the medical staff of the hospital, to discuss their future needs for equipment and also to see the 2 pieces of equipment purchased by the hospital in 2019 with funds donated by the Foundation.

We were given a demonstration of the EZ Gel Documentation System made by Bio-Rad Laboratories Inc. This machine reads and analyses DNA samples taken from patients and produces images and reports. These enable medical staff to review the quality of samples before subjecting them to further analysis. This not only speeds up the analysis of samples but also improves efficiency and reduces cost and waste because samples which are weak can be discarded instead of being subjected to further expensive test processes (before this machine was purchased, there was no way to assess whether a particular sample might produce useful insights before incurring these extra costs).

Prof. György Fekete: the reagents for the later steps in the process are very costly, so it is much more economical to repeat the first, rather inexpensive step than have to repeat the entire sequence of examinations.

The second piece of equipment we saw is a mobile linear probe, an instrument which is used in conjunction with an ultrasound machine. This is a small unit, about the size of a hand microphone, which is easily portable and has extensive capabilities.

Prof. György Fekete: this equipment is mostly used in the Intensive Care unit of the hospital for quick ultrasounds of any child illness.

Its small size and weight make it easier to bring the probe to the child’s bedside (rather than require the child to leave its bed and go to be tested elsewhere) which aids efficiency. It also provides the child patient with a comparatively non-frightening, non-invasive experience as the probe is rolled over his or her stomach.

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The Robert Burns International Foundation (RBIF) is supported by the British Ambassador to Hungary and the Hungarian Ambassador to the UK. The Honorary President of the foundation is Sir Alex Ferguson, former manager of Manchester United football club. In the last 20 years the organisation has raised several hundred thousand euros to help sick and underprivileged children.

Contact: [email protected]

Various electronic devices including TVs, washing machines, microwave ovens, fridges, irons, vacuum cleaners and reading lamps as well as new beds and a sofa were all part of the package the Gyöngyvirág Children’s Home was able to purchase in 2019 using the donation provided by the Robert Burns International Foundation.

The Gyöngyvirág Children’s Home is indeed, as the name suggests, a home for up to 40 children between 3 and 18 years of age who, for various reasons, cannot live an ordinary family life. Some are orphans, but the majority are children who have had to leave their parents by order of the law. Most only see their natural parents a few times a year – they are looked after by a handful of dedicated care workers who provide physical and mental support for them day and night, working in shifts.

At the Gyöngyvirág Home the children live in 4 apartments, each catering for 8-12 persons: shared bedrooms, a common kitchen, living room and bathrooms. The Home is part of the state-run network of the Social and Children’s Protection Directorate and all workers’ salaries and other operational costs are handled centrally. However, central budgets are typically limited to provide for the bare minimum. In addition, the centralised administration often makes life complicated and their procurement process is typically very lengthy, sometimes leaving the home with broken equipment for years.

No wonder the Home’s dedicated staff, represented by Anett Nyúzó and Zsanett Diószegi, two special ladies, were extremely delighted to receive the donation from the RBIF.

“Thanks to your support we are in such a fortunate situation that we don’t need to cheer up frustrated colleagues when some equipment breaks down by saying it will ‘eventually’ be replaced – rather, we now have enough replacements on stock. When our colleagues are relaxed and happy as the technical conditions are fully provided, they can provide better care of the children as well. And that is the most important for us!”

The Children’s Home has for some years received support from Budapest Airport, RBIF’s 2019 Sponsor of the Year. The Airport’s donation in previous years included money collected from passengers at the airport terminal, as well as voluntary contributions of staff to special events, e.g. showcasing the special airport technical rescue equipment in the Home’s garden for Children’s Day, as well as delivering personalised Christmas gifts to the children assembled from individual donations of airport workers. As a follow up to this cooperation, the RBIF with our sponsors decided to provide a substantial contribution that the Home has never received before, helping to equip the Home after a recently completed renovation.