Grand Finale with great pomp! Healthy mom, healthy newborn and healthy child - state-of-the-art medical equipment for newborns and insulin pumps for pregnant women with diabetes.

Before selecting the theme of the 20th Grand Finale we consulted with a whole host of doctors. These people had been with us all those years when the Orchestra had been supporting various fields of child medicine. It is hard to believe how much we managed to achieve and to what extent healthcare standards in Polish children’s hospitals changed thanks to our work. Some problems, like for example retinopathy of prematurity, were solved completely.

When the Orchestra played for the first time, the aim of our fundraising was to save newborns with heart defects. After twenty years of our work, the newborn is still our number one priority. This year, our focus will be not only the health of newborns but also of mothers. In fact, we have been supporting pregnant women with diabetes for a couple of years now, providing them with care they need to fight the disease.

The technology used for saving lives and improving children medicine is developing at an enormous rate. This enables doctors to take up new challenges and achieve great results which could not have been achieved before. Newborn healthcare means complex diagnostics; it means having to deal with a big number of defects, illnesses and all kinds of other health problems. The latest technology improves the chances for successful treatment, and this is what matters most for the families of those babies. That is the reason why latest technology is what we want to focus on this time – devices such as for example respirators with automatic oxygen control systems. We would also like to establish common standards for a complete infant intensive care station in tertiary referral hospitals (there are approximately 50 such units all over Poland). Another plan our ours is to purchase certain devices in smaller numbers: modern hybrid incubators, vital signs monitors or respirators. Many of these will be used to  replace old devices which had been purchased by the Orchestra in our previous Grand Finales.

Finally, we will be dealing with health issues of pregnant women with diabetes. According to World Health Organization, diabetes is going to be the most serious lifestyle disease of the 21st century. The Foundation has been providing pregnant women with insulin pumps for a couple of years now. Useful in everyday therapy, these devices help to plan the pregnancy well and to bear healthy children. Our plan is to buy another batch of equipment to fulfill the needs of all future moms with diabetes. Another project for this year’s Grand Finale is a huge media campaign aimed at raising awareness of diabetes among all Poles, regardless of age or sex. We are very consistent in pursuing this aim – let us remind you about the Insulin Pump in Diabetic Children Program, which was a great success. The program, which helped us to buy 3000 pumps, is now continued by the Ministry of Health.

The preparations for the 20th Grand Finale are underway.


www.wosp.org.pl