UNIVERSITY CHILDREN’S HOSPITAL – TIRSOVA
The University Children’s Hospital in Belgrade is one of the largest hospitals in Serbia. FPK has been actively involved in helping the hospital through various donations and humanitarian aid during the last ten years, since the foundation was created.
In 2004, Crown Prince Alexander II and Crown Princess Katherine donated an ambulance to the University Children’s Hospital with the generous help of the president of “Oracle”, Dragan Spanovic.
In 2005, Crown Princess Katherine donated a neonatal incubator and ten-infusion pumps to the then newly – opened Department for Intensive Care of Neonatal Unit with the help of friends of FPK from Switzerland and the PNOE Foundation from Greece. In honour of the great contribution that Crown Princess Katherine made to the University Children’s Hospital, the new department carries her name.
Crown Prince Alexander also visited the University Children’s Hospital in 2005, where he donated one mobile incubator, a generous donation from FPK and the Safra Foundation.
Other large donations through FPK to the University Children’s Hospital over the past years have been:
- The construction of the first unit for treating Congenital Heart Disease (the only department in Serbia);
- The reconstruction of the intensive care unit and the purchasing of essential equipment for the complete neonatal intensive care unit such as incubators, respirators, monitors, apparatus for dialyses, aspirators, neonatal ventilators, portable X-ray, and infusion pumps;
- An ultrasound with special sounding for the heart
- Material for cardiovascular operations
- A Dideco Compact A Auto transfusion machine
- A paediatric ventilator
In 2011, Crown Princess Katherine and her good friend from Greece, Mrs. Kaliroi Apostolidou Konstantas delivered a bio magnetic therapy machine to the University Children’s Hospital which will be used as additional treatment for diabetic patients.
FPK will carry on its successful cooperation with the University Children’s Hospital in continuing its support for the Congenital Heart Disease Unit as well as all other upcoming as well as pending projects.
BREAST CANCER PROJECT
During last five years, FPK has focused its activities on breast cancer prevention, diagnosis and treatment programmes in Serbia in coordination with the Ministry of Health and the National Campaign “Serbia against cancer”. Crown Princess Katherine Humanitarian Foundation managed to secure valuable donations to support medical institutions with a mobile digital mammography machine that was donated to the Regional Health Centre in Nis and is travelling as the only mobile mammography machine in south east Serbia. This machine examined several thousand women is worth US $700,000 and was donated by the Stavros S. Niarchos Charitable Organization from New York. Also, FPK has donated several mammography machines to Paracin, Odzaci and Arandjelovac health care institutions.
Serbia still has great need for 130 mammography machines to implement a comprehensive screening program. Unfortunately Serbia is still at the top of the list regarding morbidity and mortality rate from this disease in Europe.
Serbia still has great needs in training of its doctors and technicians regarding new diagnosis and treatment techniques. FPK has very good cooperation with Memorial Sloan – Kettering Cancer Centre in New York, and Professor Hedvig Hricak, who helped us with her team to organize two seminars for health professionals in Serbia regarding breast cancer prevention and diagnosis. So far we have established cooperation with “Susan G. Komen for the cure” campaign and Ambassador Nancy Brinker, who visited Serbia two years ago and met with our Minister of Health and health professionals.
In addition, a number of charity events awareness raising campaigns were organised by FPK to secure awareness about the importance of early detection and to raise funds for prevention and therapy actions from medical institutions throughout the country.
The oldest school of this type in Balkans will be soon the first school in Serbia that will have an induction loop thanks to donation from Lifeline New York and FPK. Induction loop as the wireless equipment will be used in the group therapeutic work and in everyday classes’ securing at the same time free communication and movement for 170 students in this school. Up-to-date students were depending on wired amplificatory that was narrowing their activities and communication. School Stefan Decanski is as of this year also pioneering as the resource centre as the result of 10 years of successful implementation of the inclusive education process. This included joint extra curriculum activities with students from a few Belgrade schools as well as the seventh generation of University students who from Stefan Decanski School continued their education at regular Universities.