The Ukraine 3000 International Charitable Foundation and McDonald’s Ukraine Company announced the results of the McHappy Day action.
Recall that the receipts from French fries sales on November 29, as well as selling paper starts, bracelets, and charms on November 1 – December 6, 2009, were channeled for charity. All 68 McDonald’s restaurants in Ukraine were involved in the action, which had raised UAH 1,055,000. It was decided to purchase with the raised funds defibrillators and spare electrode sets for 22 children’s hospitals in Ukraine.
The ceremony of handing over the equipment to the hospitals’ representatives took place March 26, 2010, at a press conference at the Ukrainian House in Kyiv. Among the participants of the event were Head of the Supervisory Board of the Ukraine 3000 International Charitable Foundation Kateryna Yushchenko; Director General of McDonald’s Ukraine Jan Borden; professor with the Strazheska Cardiology Institute at the AMS of Ukraine Oleh Irkin, MD; assistant professor with the Strazheska Cardiology Institute Yuri Pohoretsky; Head of the Emergency Medicine Training Center Pavlo Rymarenko; Director of Medical programs Dept. at Ukraine 3000 Vira Pavliuk, and 22 representatives of the children’s hospitals, recipients of the aid.
Before the press conference started, Messrs. Irkin, Pohoretsky, and Rymarenko had conducted a training for the doctors on using defibrillators. In part, they discussed the problem of emergency medical aid in Ukraine. According to the experts, unexpected death rates would me much lower if equipment like defibrillator was open to general use and everybody knew how to use it. DR. Pohoretsky quoted the experience of other countries where police cars, public transportation cars, schools, and medical institutions are equipped with these machines. In his words, the access to defibrillator is very important since, according to the statistics, rendering emergency aid in the first minute helps to save patient’s life in 98% cases.
All doctors had a chance to practice their defibrillator skills with the help and under supervision of Pavlo Rymarenko, Head of the Emergency Medicine Training Center.
Mrs. Yushchenko thanked the McDonald’s Company for setting an example of social responsibility. “The McDonald’s Company is one of the Ukraine 3000 Foundation’s best partners,” Mrs. Yushchenko said, recalling the history of the two organizations’ cooperation. In the five years of their joint efforts they have raised around UAH 4.5 million, channeled for the renewal of Ukrainian hospitals’ material and technical assets.
“Today we decided to go back to the problem of emergency medical aid,” Mrs. Yushchenko said. “These defibrillators meet all modern requirements, and we hope that this equipment will be of great use to the doctors and children.”
Mrs. Yushchenko delivered to Mr. Borden letters of gratitude from hospitals receiving medical equipment due to the Ukraine 3000 Foundation and McDonald’s Company. “I hope that out cooperation with the McDonald’s Company in 2010 will be no less effective and useful than in the previous years,” she said.
“It’s very important for the McDonald’s Company to help the community we are operating in,” Mr. Borden said in reply. “We are trying to involve the community into the charities, and celebrities help us to do this. Even in the far from easy year 2009 we managed to raise a considerable sum.”
“Today is the most important day, since we can see the result of our work with our own eyes,” Mr. Borden said. “Nothing can be more gratifying than helping children.”
Mr. Borden thanked the Ukraine 3000 Foundation and Mrs. Yushchenko for the cooperation. “Thanks to you the raised funds are being used with maximum efficiency,” he said.
Mr. Irkin said that the action conducted by Ukraine 3000 Foundation and McDonald’s Company was very important for Ukraine. “You cannot imagine how easy it is to save lives when you have a defibrillator at hand,” he said. In Mr. Irkin’s words, by equipping with defibrillators public institutions, hospitals, schools, company vehicles, the way it is done in many developed countries, the now very high unexpected mortality rate could be decreased dramatically.
Head of the ICU at Zhytomyr Oblast Children’s Hospital Oleksandr Lesnevsky spoke on behalf of the hospitals that have been receiving aid from Ukraine 3000 Foundation and McDonald’s Company for several years. “We have been cooperating for five years now, and during this period we have obtained most necessary equipment,” he said. “At that, the aid is always rendered for concrete purpose. We receive everything we require, and we appreciate this greatly.”
Dr. Lisnevsky said that none of the machines received from Ukraine 3000 Foundation and its partners, the McDonald’s Company included, had been used for purposes it hadn’t been meant for or required repairs.
After the press conference a training was held for the journalists on reanimation measures using defibrillator.
McHappy Day is an annual charitable action, carried out by McDonalds Company since 2002 in more than 100 countries. The action is aimed at raising funds for charitable projects dealing with children’s health protection and improving their living conditions. In the eight years (2002-2009) of its existence in Ukraine the action has raised over UAH 5,162,000, channeled for supporting 40 children’s patient care institutions in 29 Ukraine’s cities.
Since 2005, the World Children’s Day at McDonalds is held in partnership with the Ukraine 3000 International Charitable Foundation. The Foundation’s considerable expertise in implementing charitable projects helps to chose patient care institutions most needing help, and making this help as effective as possible. Due to the money, collected in the 2005 action, family rooms at the Oncology Institute at the Academy of Medical Sciences of Ukraine were remodeled and renewed. In 2006, the Healthy Heart of a Child action was implemented, purchasing cardio equipment for 18 Ukraine’s children’s hospitals. In 2007, equipment for emergency aid and children’s electric pumps were purchased for 30 hospitals in all Ukraine’s oblasts. In 2008, 29 children’s hospitals received reanimation equipment for newborns.
Ukrainian hospitals to receive defibrillators:
- OKHMATDYT NDH
- Dnipropetrovsk Oblast Children’s Clinical Hospital
- Odesa Oblast Children’s Hospital
- Institute for Children’s and Adolescents’ Health Care, Kharkiv
- Donetsk Oblast Children’s Clinical Hospital
- Lviv Community City Children’s Clinical Hospital
- Vinnytsia Oblast Children’s Clinical Hospital
- Zaporizhzhia Oblast Children’s Hospital
- Kryvy Rih City Clinical Hospital No.8, Dnipropetrovsk Oblast.
- Mykolayiv Oblast Children’s Hospital
- Emergency Aid Sstation, Simferopol, ARC
- Mothers’ and Children’s Health Protection Center, Sevastopol, ARC
- Sumy Oblast Children’s Clinical Hospital
- Cherkasy Oblast Hospital
- Chernihiv Oblast Children’s Hospital
- Yalta City Children’s Hospital
- Zhytomyr Oblast Children’s Hospital
- Poltava City Children’s Hospital
- Kremenchuk City Children’s Hospital, Poltava Oblast.
- Luhansk Oblast Children’s Clinical Hospital
- Children’s Clinical Hospital Crimean Republic Institution, Simferopol
- Volyn Oblast Medical Alliance, Lutsk
Photo by Maksym Korodenko
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