Tag Archive for: SME Sponsorship Scheme

Infant and Children’s Department at Mezőtúr Hospital, 2022

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In 2022 as part of our SME Sponsorship Scheme we were delighted to team up with a long-standing partner of ours, WhiskyNet, who have supported the RBIF in its work for many years.

Using money generously raised by WhiskyNet customers with their online purchases, Zsolt Sziget and Kati Szatmári asked if we could help a hospital in the eastern part of the country. Following consultations with the RBIF’s medical adviser Professor György Fekete, we identified the hospital in Mezőtúr as a worthy beneficiary.

Dr. Ferenc Antal runs the paediatric department at this small, well-equipped rural hospital. The wards are comfortable, each with a separate bathroom, toilet and TV, and following discussions with him it transpired that the RBIF could best help if we managed to buy an air-conditioning system.

 

“Having adequate air conditioning is more comfortable for a sick, feverish child than a warm, airless, humid environment. The RBIF has helped us ensure this by purchasing a modern, high-efficiency cooling and heating air-conditioning unit, which we were able to install in our central corridor so that the air temperature and movement can affect the air in all the wards. It would be ideal to have air conditioning in all wards, but now we have this to our great satisfaction!”, said Antal Ferenc.

The remainder of the donation was used to buy blood pressure cuffs and pulse oximeters, which are essential for the daily care of newborns, as every newborn is required to have four endometrial blood pressure measurements and pulse oximetry monitoring a certain time after their birth.

 

“It was a pleasure for us to have the RBIF visit our department and to personally thank Mr Douglas Arnott, Chairman of the Robert Burns International Foundation, for his repeated support. We were also able to talk about the support we received ten years ago and were able to have a look at the Pulzox monitor still in daily use in our outpatient clinic, demonstrating that even in such a small rural hospital, there are adequate conditions for the care of young patients.”

Csongrád-Csanád County Health Centre, Hódmezővásárhely-Makó, 2020

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In 2020 the Robert Burns International Foundation continued its support of the Paediatric Department at the Csongrád-Csanád County Health Centre in Hódmezővásárhely purchasing equipment that ensures non-invasive respiratory support for babies and infants. This donation was part of our SME Sponsorship Scheme, and was enabled by the continued involvement of Inter Relocation Kft.

The nurses and doctors at the department frequently encounter babies suffering from respiratory problems like acute bronchiolitis, often as a result of a virus (respiratory syncytial virus). In some cases this leads to severe respiratory symptoms and the babies need admitted to hospital, and the situation can be compounded by other factors, such as premature birth, heart disorders or congenital disorders.

Most problems arise between the autumn and the spring, particularly in January and February. Using the respiratory system purchased using the support of the RBIF and Inter Relocation, the doctors and nurses can primarily help alleviate upper respiratory infections, thereby helping them get better as soon as possible.

Until now we could only rely on traditional oxygen therapy as we did not have the necessary equipment to hand, which meant some of the babies had to be transferred to other hospitals for treatment. Thanks to the donation we can now treat these severe cases too using modern, non-invasive respiratory treatment. – Dr Ferenc Papp, consultant physician and head of department.

This “high flow nasal cannula therapy” (HFNC) is a heated and humidified system that allows a prescribed fraction of inspired oxygen levels to be delivered at very high flow rates, helping babies and children to breathe and take in enough oxygen. It is a treatment used in the event of mild to moderate respiratory problems, mainly virus-induced respiratory inflammations.

The donated equipment was the Fisher&Paykel 850 Optiflow HFNC system, and it is better than traditional oxygen therapy for various reasons, among others, the required oxygen concentration can be administered more accurately and the high flow of gas cleans the pharynx, minimising the carbon dioxide inhaled back into the body, which raises the efficiency of the oxygen treatment. Compared to other respiratory therapies this is much more comfortable and easier to tolerate for the babies and children.

With the donated equipment the hospital can treat six severe cases at the same time, which comes as a huge help to the staff in Hódmezővásárhely, not to mention the little patients.