2004 Charity projects Romania

The technicians team of the Urgenta Foundation left for Sibiu, Romania on Wednesday April 7th. The group existed of Jochem de Jong, Jo de Jong, Jan Scheerder and Arnold van Rijn.

When we arrived, a surprise was waiting for us: the truck of Dijkman Bliteb Transport was already cleared by customs! This meant we could start with unloading the truck immediately. On Friday April 9th we spent all day dividing the gear between the University Hospital and the Children's Hospital. We would like to thank two employees of the hospital for their effort and input: Alexandra Bogai and Alina Cozac. They provided support with all the administrational things which we don't know much about.

We used the weekend to shake off the trip and to start off loading the truck. The following days it was Eastern so nothing much could be done either. Tuesday April 13th we started to work on the OR and ICU of the Children's Hospital. We installed the medical air facilities including the Berko compressors and replaced a part of the oxygen system. We worked many an hour in a day including the following Saturday. Our goal was to get the center up and running again in less than a week. The hospital had to improvise a lot but in the end we reached our objectives. Monday morning all work was done after a weekend of cleaning and fixing some details. The first patients were already lying in the ward. We would like to thank the Technical Services and the hospital for their support. Special thanks goes out the kitchen: they really spoiled us!!

On Tuesday April 20th we started doing some maintenance work on the compressors in the University Hospital. These babies were really in need of some service work! We fitted this complete installation back in 1995 and it's now providing 5 ICU's and the OR-center Surgery and the Women's clinic with clean dry compressed air. Maintenance is not a high priority in Romania so again, we advised the hospital to do some service work on a regular basis. One compressor was not working because the engine was burned out. We urged the hospital to fix this but the engine still doesn't work, it turns out we need a spare part from Holland. We will take care of that.We were forced to cancel the Reorganization Project (replacement of the dividers of the oxygen facilities) in the University Hospital due to bad preparation by the Technical Services. In December this year, we will try again to carry out this project. Preparation is a key factor here so lets hope the technicians have made the appropriate arrangements next time. We estimate it will take two days to replace the dividers. We think it could save the hospital up to €50,000 a year!!

We used the Wednesday to brainstorm about possible projects for April 2005. Expanding the ICU of the Women's clinic to 8 beds has been high on the wish list for some years now, so we 'd like to do this in coming Spring. Another idea that came forward was expanding the medical gasses facilities for the prematures department of Neonatology.

Looking back at our days in Sibiu, we can only say it was a successful trip. We got the majority of the planned projects done and we already conferred with the hospitals to see what needs are still eminent. A delegation of the Urgenta Foundation will visit Sibiu in December to decide which projects will be planned for 2005. Last but not least we would like to thank our sponsors. Without them, it's impossible for us to do any kind of work in this beautiful but poor country.