As soon as Romania entered into a state of emergency in March, 2020, many hospitals were tasked to serve only COVID-19 patients, amongst them also, the Colentina Hospital in Bucharest. Many health institutions around the world found themselves in the trenches of this global pandemic with very limited resources – human resources but also personal protection equipment, observation and intensive care equipment and any additional supplies to support pandemic medical protocols in the COVID-19 care wards.

Our alumni, Michelle Ciubuc, in her last year of medicine studies and doing her internship at the Colentina Hospital, disclosed early in the crisis, her concern with the resources available in that health institution. The hospital was not equipped to handle the number of ill people needing care, treatment and services required by this highly contagious virus. Both from an infrastructure point of view, as well as monitoring equipment, intensive care equipment, resuscitation equipment and personal protection equipment.

The managers of the Colentina Hospital, like many health institutions all over the globe, feeling so overwhelmed by the situation at hand, immediately began to run the numbers and inventory supplies determining what they needed to continue in this crisis.

The initial figure for the most urgent supplies was 500,000 RON (just over 100,000 Euro), which sounded like an overwhelming figure to obtain in a matter of days, but it was desperately needed. The hospital published the call for help, with detailed needs, costs, and bank details, and Michelle shared this with our alumni team.

We immediately decided to share the call for help with the wider AISB Community, hoping to support, at least in a small part, the efforts of this hospital.

Catalina Gardescu, the AISB Admissions & External Relations Manager, shared the hospital letter with all AISB communities that same day. The day after, Catalina wrote to our  team announcing that people were reacting fast: personal donations, small businesses and larger businesses, the numbers kept rising, the donation amount was growing bigger and bigger in a matter of hours. It was such a great feeling to witness - how through challenge and overwhelm, AISB alumni, families and staff showcased such hope, enthusiasm, pride for our community and pure generosity.

In only a few days, the AISB community raised approx. €150,000!

As the donation money was made available to the hospital, we had the chance to contact the managers of the hospital and we learned from them that they had already prepared a strategy for purchase & use of the below equipment and supplies:

• Washing machines to wash all the scrubs and clothes of medical staff

• Personal Protective

Equipment for entire medical staff of the hospital on all specialties

• Ozone generator

Upon hearing our request for donations, HEINEKEN, one of AISB’s community supporters, sponsored the hospital with audio equipment that allows doctor- patient communication between the green and red zones of the facility.

This was incredibly useful and greatly improved the efficiency of the hospital dealing with such an unprecedented situation. This system allowed for uninterrupted communication between patients and the medical staff, while their movement was safely limited between the infected (and potentially infected people) and the rest of the staff and patients.

We also came to know that another AISB family, the Krenzia family, through their company, ALKA, supplied coffee machines and STRETTO coffee for the medical staff of the Colentina Hospital. A generous and much appreciated burst of energy for the hard working individuals who  were regularly putting others before themselves.

We are still hearing more and more about so many other members of the community jumping in at different moments with support, money or services, and we grow more and more grateful for this community we are part of, and for being able to experience the solidarity, the innovations, and selfless acts, despite the difficulties that all businesses are facing in this situation, despite the numerous challenges we are presented with during this time. This was yet again an illustration of how the AISB family collectively and simultaneously decided that we, as a global community, are ourselves a precious resource. We stepped up to care,. support, and protect each other, especially in such difficult times.

Fabiana Papestefani
AISB Alumni Coordinator


 

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