Tag Archive for: Charity Fundraising

2018 Projects: Péterfy Sándor Hospital, Budapest

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The Péterfy Sándor Street Hospital, located in District 7, is one of the larger hospitals in Budapest with nearly 1,600 beds, where patients can be treated for an array of ailments and conditions. The Péterfy Sándor Hospital has been operating since 1848, which also makes it one of Budapest’s older hospitals.

The RBIF has been working closely with the hospital for a number of years, with its focus being on the improvement and provision of facilities and equipment on the neonatal wing, which treats and cares for newborn children, primarily premature babies. Despite the dedication of its workers, patrons and benefactors the hospital still struggles to provide the most up-to-date and holistic care for its patients. So one of the RBIF’s priorities is to support the neonatal wing by helping to equip it with the required technology, in order to ensure the comfort and survival of many of the prematurely newborn babies they receive.

The neonatal wing is run by Dr Gabor Baross who, with the support of his team, can deal with anything between 500 – 600 premature babies every year. Given the wing can only accommodate 20/30 babies at any one time, if one was to say the wing is running at capacity, it would be somewhat of an understatement. Dr Baross also explained that to compound this problem, it is getting harder and harder to recruit and retain skilled and qualified nurses, to care for the newborn babies, as they are being tempted to leave Hungary and move abroad.

 

What defines a premature baby who needs the help of Dr Baross and his colleagues? A premature baby is anything weighing between 500 grams to 1 kilogram. A baby born under 500 grams has a 20/30% survival rate, and then only a 30% chance of being healthy. Once a newborn is brought to the wing Dr Baross ensures he/she is checked extensively, and then placed in one of the incubators – presuming there is free capacity. Depending on the diagnosis, the baby will then spend anything between 4 weeks to 4 months within the confines of this incubator. Dr Baross welcomes visits from the parents, but this needs to be managed carefully as there can be up to 5 incubators in 1 room, meaning circulation space can be at a premium.

 

As a direct result of your generous help and contributions in 2018, we were able to buy and provide Dr Baross with eight top of the range bedside monitors, which is excellent news given our target was five. This has greatly helped the unit, and made the monitoring of the babies’ welfare far, far easier, as these new machines can measure blood pressure ECG, temperature and blood oxygen levels using one lead only. The older version required 4 machines with 4 separate leads. Not only was this inefficient, but it made holistic diagnosis / check-ups more complicated and timely.

 

What next? The hospital asks the government for support every year, but so far it is only patrons like the RBIF and others who provide them with support. The objective for 2019 is to acquire 3 or 4 more monitors as well as provide support for the wing to construct parent rooms. Despite Dr Baross winning an award for the most “Baby Friendly Hospital” in 2018, the department is still tired and limited. There is some redundant space at the end of the wing which can be converted into spaces for parents to stay with their babies. Currently there are 2 rooms (for mothers only) and fathers can only visit for a few hours every day. Fathers are not allowed to stay the night, primarily due to capacity reasons. Clearly this proposed construction for further parent rooms is (almost) prohibitively expensive, but with the support of the RBIF’s sponsors and guests there is always hope.

Like our new website? Find out who designed it…

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The keen-eyed among you will have noticed that the RBIF launched a brand-new website in 2018, a platform that makes it much easier for us to let you know exactly what we are doing and helps us to interact more with everyone on social media.

Designing and building a new website is not an easy task, and not a cheap one either, which is why we were extremely grateful to Edit McAlister at Expat Press Magazine and Inter Relocation.

Why did you decide to help the RBIF with its new website?

When the RBIF Chairman Douglas Arnott asked me whether I could help with this project, there was nothing to decide, I had to say yes. I’ve been attending the Burns Suppers for almost ten years as a guest, and I know just how much valuable work goes into running the foundation.

I really appreciate, and hold in high regard, the work carried out by the RBIF. The purpose of the fundraising is to help sick and underprivileged children, so for me it was a no-brainer: if the foundation needed my expertise, I was happy to give it to them.

The new website helps us communicate our fundraising activity for sick and underprivileged children to as wide an audience as possible.

Edit, many would think Expat Press Magazine is just another website for expats in Hungary, but it’s a bit more than that, isn’t it?

Edit McAlister, Managing Editor and Director of Marketing / photo: Brigitta Kátay-Tóth

It is important for us that our readers receive content that does not come across as simple advertising, but which conveys credible information and is genuinely helpful.

The majority of our writers are expats themselves, who have lived in the country for a long time and know it inside out. For example, the places that we write about are not just ones we have visited once, they have become regular haunts and we share tried-and-tested experiences with our readers.

We believe it is crucial that our readers should really feel at home in Hungary, with all its positive and negative nuances. Our Budapest Expats group on Facebook is essentially an extension of the magazine, where people can go to for further help and guidance from us.

Why have interactive websites and social media become so important?

The two are intertwined. There are many professional articles out there on this, but in a nutshell, social media posts provide an opportunity for the public to find your new web content and click through to your site, and an active social media presence builds relationships with your audience.

An interactive web design engages visitors with a more relevant experience. It’s the difference between talking at someone and starting a conversation.

What would you say to anyone thinking of offering their own specialist services to help the RBIF?

You cannot put a price on the activity that the RBIF performs. Some might question the importance of corporate social responsibility activities.

I believe that giving back to the community and helping those in need should be an integral part of our lives nowadays, both at a personal and at a business level. For me at least, this isn’t even a question.

 

 

Charity Fundraising

The Robert Burns International Foundation raises charity funds throughout the year, though it comes into strongest focus around the Burns Supper. But given what it commits to do, raising the money is as nothing if it is not spent.

Professor Dr György Fekete, the former Director of the II Paediatric Department of Semmelweis University in Budapest, acts as medical adviser to the RBIF, helping sift through the many applications for support to find and select the most appropriate and deserving projects.

The Hungarian health care system has been underfunded for years, since long before the global economic crisis began to tighten purse strings. As a result, donations from foundations, private sponsors and organisations are often the only ways open to hospitals in need of new equipment. The only alternatives are official Hungarian or EU research projects and grants, but the process of accessing the money is complex and time consuming. “Donations are easier and faster sources, because they do not require such a long administrative and bureaucratic processes as the applications for grants,” the Professor says.

“Since all the instruments serve basic, every-day medical needs, mostly important in the emergency and intensive-care treatment of ill children, these gifts have helped to save lives in many cases,” Fekete insists.

“Hungarian doctors and patients know and are very thankful for all of these donations, being aware of the difference to their work, on the one hand, and their improved chances for being healthy again on the other. In short, all the hospitals that have been supported over the years are now able to offer a higher level of medical care than before the donation, and this fact is very crucial for the benefit for our young patients!”

Thank you: Professor Dr György Fekete speaking at the 2011
Budapest Burns Supper. Photo courtesy of Tamás Rajna,
www.imagesbyrajna.com

The RBIF applies strict criteria before it agrees to pay out any monies. Hospital units must prove their need for the equipment and give guarantees the money will be used solely for the purposes outlined.

By Robin Marshall

Tag Archive for: Charity Fundraising

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