“Be prepared!” Caravan, operated by the General Inspectorate for Emergency Situations, aims to train over 7,000 people to react correctly in emergency situations, in the four months of travel in more than 20 localities, both in the urban and the rural areas. Until now, around 4,000 people entered the caravan, 56 percent of them being adults, 28 percent being children, 10 percent being teenagers and 7 percent being elder people.
Last weekend, “Be prepared!” SMURD caravan was present in the Carol Park from Bucharest. In the next two months, the caravan will travel to Buzau, Bacau, Piatra Neamt, Iasi, Botosani and Suceava.
“We have designed this campaign to educate people in the first aid field, especially children and young people. After the first two months of travel around the country, the figures indicate us that the class room from the caravan is always full”, stated Dr. Raed Arafat, the SMURD founder.
“Having the support of this caravan and of the fire body of the firefighters, we hope to reduce the number of interventions and to teach people how to protect, to prevent and to act in an emergency situation, so that we can turn a tragic situation in a successful one, in which we save a life”, added Dr. Arafat.
“Be prepared!” Caravan is a project initiated by Foundation for SMURD and implemented with the support of the Vodafone Romania Foundation, who contributed with EUR 400,000 from the total investment of EUR 523,000.
Ravinder Takkar, President and CEO at Vodafone Romania: „Health is important. Education is the future of the country”
“Vodafone Romania Foundation is glad to contribute to the successful implementation of the ‘Be prepared!’ Caravan. The foundation focuses its activity and resources in four strategic directions – health, education, social services and voluntary – and the SMURD caravan is the kind of project reaching all these fields, therefore its impact is much more important”, stated Ravinder Takkar, President and CEO at Vodafone Romania, within a press conference.
The cooperation between Vodafone Romania Foundation and Foundation for SMURD started in 2004. One year later, the first telemedicine system for SMURD ambulances was implemented, representing an absolute premiere for Romania. The partnership continued with yearly large projects, therefore, after 12 years of cooperation, Vodafone Romania Foundation has funded the Foundation for SMURD with more than EUR 2.2 million, for projects from which 400,000 people across the country have benefited.
The caravan’s agenda is available on the website http://fundatiapentrusmurd.ro/ and in the “Department for Emergency Situations” application, available on Apple Store and Google Play, while the registering form to the classes can be accessed at http://fundatiapentrusmurd.ro/ .
Vodafone Romania Foundation is a non-governmental Romanian charity organization, separated and independent from the trade operations of the company, established in 1998.
In the 18 years of activity, Vodafone Romania Foundation funded almost 1,000 programs in the health, education and social services fields, their beneficiaries being children, young people, elder people, physically, socially or economically disadvantaged people. Until today, the Vodafone Foundation Romania has invested EUR 23 million in projects developed by the partner non-profit organizations.
Foundation for SMURD is a non-governmental, non-profit, non-political, organization, established in 2006 as a private legal person, independent from any other Romanian or foreign institution or person, supporting, through all of its developed projects, the activity of the Mobile Emergency Service for Resuscitation and Extrication (SMURD). The mission of the Foundation for SMURD is to contribute to improving the lives of the people living and working in Romania, by supporting the development of the medical and technical emergency and first aid integrated system.
In order to achieve the goals which caused its establishment, Foundation for SMURD has developed and it is developing various projects, exclusively funded by funds from the yearly campaigns “2% for SMURD” and from donations and sponsorships of some companies operating in Romania.
