Working together to change the lives of the most vulnerable children in Colombia
Covid-19 Special Appeal 2020
With the generous support from our friends all over the world, we managed to raise £21,000 and donate essential PPE equipment to key hospitals in Colombia in Bogotá (Hospital Universitario Mederi), Cali (Hospital Universitario Mederi), La Dorada (ESE Salud Dorada Caldas), Ocaña (Hospital Emiro Quintero Cañizares) and Barrancabermeja (ESE Barrancabermeja) for all the medical staff working there tirelessly. These key institutions, located in areas of severe impact, are playing a key role in saving lives and FOCSA is very proud to have helped during these challenging times.
FOCSA also additionally donated £10,000 worth of essential PPE equipment various hospitals in Cauca (ESE Guapi), Chocó (Hospital San Francisco de Asis and Hospital Local Ismael Roldan Valencia of Quibdo) , Casanare (ESE Centro de Salud de Monterrey), Guajira (Hospital Nuestra Señora de los Remedios Riohacha, Hospital de San Juan del Cesar and Hospital San Jose de Maicao) and in Tolima (Hospital San Rafael ESE Dolores).
We are delighted to share with you that FOCSA donated 1,000 face masks to very vulnerable hospitals and foundations such as the Colsubsidio Clinic in Bogota that treats children with Leukemia!
Special Appeal 2018
The Fundación Cardioinfantil - Instituto de Cardiología (FCI-IC) - April 2019 - £56,789
The Fundación Cardioinfantil - Instituto de Cardiología (FCI-IC) is a not- for-profit organisation offers high quality medical attention to children and adults with very complex cardiovascular illnesses. Their mission is to treat all children, regardless of their parents’ income or social status, who require specialised medical interventions that are not always available in other health institutions in Colombia. Approximately 70% of the children treated come from lower income back- grounds.
The FCI, as a Fourth-tier hospital in the Colombian health service classification, receives many referrals of children whose pathologies cannot be treated elsewhere. At times, some of these children cannot be given the medical care that they urgently need as the FCI-IC does not have enough beds or specialised equipment. For this reason, they decided to create a new, Paediatric Intensive Care Unit to increase the number of children they help from 450 to 700, which means that they will also require additional equipment. FOCSA with your help donated two High frequency ventilators that have different specifications and serve different purposes allowing the hospital to currently look after 600 children per year approximately.
The clinical treatment is supported by educational, investigative and social responsibility programmes and is centred on the patient but also involves the family from the start. 3,760 children were admitted to the Paediatric Ward in 2017.
Special Appeal 2016
The Arhuacos are a profoundly spiritual, peaceful people who value their independence and traditions. Approximately 45,000 live in the Arhuaco Indigenous Reserve – between the Caribbean Sea and the snow-capped peaks of the Sierra Nevada of Santa Marta. The Arhuacos live dispersed over a wide area, and practice a subsistence economy, working the land and making handicrafts. There are very few roads; some isolated places can only be reached by foot or on horseback.
The WINTUKWA IPSI is the regional health institution which takes care of the primary medical needs of over 10,500 young children and 9,900 are women of reproductive age. On average they treat 1,150 children and 300 pregnant women per month. FOCSA has been asked to help because they are going through a difficult period due to climate change and other changes affecting their crops and water supplies. As a result there is hunger, malnutrition and illness, particularly in the most vulnerable groups of children, mothers and old people.
With your help, we have donated basic but essential medical equipment to the Nabusimake, Jewrwa and Simonorwa Health Centres. They have dedicated medical teams including doctors, nurses, bacteriologists and health promoters. While the infrastructure of the Health Centres is adequate, they lack even the most basic equipment required for diagnosis and primary care: Fetal Dopplers, Blood Pressure Monitors, Nebulizers and Vital Signs Monitors. Now the Arhuacos receive care from a health centre closer to their villages, without the expense and risk of having to travel for several hours in hazardous conditions to the nearest city.
3 Health Centres - Sierra Nevada de Santa Marta - October 2016 - £20,000
Hospital Universitario Troconis - August 2016 - £5,000
We donated a specialised closed incubator for the neonatal intensive care unit. This is vital for the intensive care of critically ill babies and children suffering from diseases such as renal failure, convulsions, very low birth weight or respiratory complications.
Special Appeal 2014
Hospital Universitario Rafael Henao Toro - Manizales - May 2015 - £33,000
Our Special Appeal for 2014 was targeted to help a hospital located in the Colombian Coffee Region. The "Hospitalito" is a crutial and important institution in the region for children of all ages.
We suceeded in raising £33,000 which were desperately needed to buy the surgical medical equipment for this inspiring and non-profit institution that offers secondary and tertiary care to children and teenagers in the coffee area, being the only entity with these facilities in the region.
Among the equipment donated were 1 surgical ceiling lamp, 1 intubation lamp, 1 Fiberscope, 1 Dermatome and key surgical intruments they required.
Special Appeal 2013
Fundación Madre Bernarda Butler - Clinica la Asunción - Feb 2014 - £36,500
Our 2013 appeal, under the name of “Carnival of Hope” set out with a very ambitious target to raise enough funds to buy 1 transport incubator, 1 vital signs monitor and associated ventilator, 1 closed incubator and 2 phototherapy lamps for the paediatric ward and intensive care unit at Clinica La Asuncion, Barranquilla.
The clinic was in urgent need of special neonatal equipment provided by FOCSA which was necessary for the safe movement of babies between the labour and neonatal intensive care wards. With your help we were able to raise £36,500 to provide this important equipment which was delivered to the hospital in February this year.
ESE Hospital San Juan de Dios, Pensilvania
Sept 2020 - £2,400
1 Pulse oximeter, 1 Children's hospital bed, 1 Weighing scale, 1 Baby's tallimeter, 1 Neurological paediatric wheelchair, 1 Paediatric Vital Signs Monitor
Hospital Universitario Hernando Moncaleano, Neiva
Feb 2020 - £16,800
Hypothermia machine.
ESE Centro de Salud, Toca
Jan 2020 - £2,500
Dental equipment and equipment for medical consultation.
Fundación Pequeño Corazón, Manizales
Jan 2020 - £7,750
2 Holter recorders and other related equipment.
Fundación Colombiana de Cirugia plastica y Reconstructiva, Bucaramanga
Jan 2020 - £8,700
Radiofrequency scalpel.
ESE Hospital Regional, Sogamoso
Nov 2019 - £12,825
Bilirubinometer, pediatric Electrocardiograph, Defibrillator.
Fundación Frasili, Tipacoque
Oct 2019 - £4,600
3 wheelchairs, equipment for different therapies.
Fundación Cardio Infantil, Bogota
Aug 2019 - £1,100
Ambulatory blood pressure monitor.
CEDESNID, Bogotá, Fusa, Ibague
Nov 2019 - £5,000
20 wheelchairs, 5 wheelchairs with toilet and various therapy equipment.
Fundación Hoasis El Refugio, Cúcuta
Nov 2019 - £4,550
10 wheelchairs, 37 metal beds with mattresses and other equipment.
ITSOR, Institucion Educacional Niño Jesus de Praga, Ibague
Apr 2019 - £8,600
7 UHD Television sets to connect with the main clinic.
Fundacion Laura Vicuña, Armenia
Apr 2019 - £1,800
Defibrillator and eqipment for Consulting room.
Hospital del Magdalena Medio, Barrancabermeja
Nov 2018 - £9,800
Radiant heat lamp, fetal twin Monitor, fetal Doppler.
Instituto Roosevelt, Bogotá
Aug 2018 - £4,750
Electrosurgical unit
Fundación Protección de la Joven Amparo de Niñas, Bogotá
Apr 2018 - £5,400
Dental Unit and small equipment for a consulting room.
Fundación Nacional Batuta, Bogotá
Apr 2018 - £6,000
Specially adapted musical instruments for 600 children with special needs.
Tiempo de Juego Cazucá, Bogotá
Mar 2018 - £1,000
160 Football uniforms: T-shirts, shorts and socks.
Centro de Vida los Angeles, Tocancipá
Feb 2018 - £15,370
9 adjustable electric hospital beds and 9 electric cribs with antiscratch mattresses.
Comunidad de las Hijas de María Auxiliadora, Guachené.
Feb 2018 - £200
Freezer and water filters.
Hospital José Maria Hernández, Mocoa
Jan 2018 - £10,300
A transport Incubator equipment for physiotherapy.
Escuelas Catatumbo, Ocaña
Dec 2017 - £4,700
700 raincoats.
Puesto Salud Cartagena de Indias, Corozal
Jul 2017 - £1,000
Portable Dental Unit and accessories.
ICAL Instituto Colombiano de Audicion y Lenguaje, Bogotá & Chia
Jan 2018 - £2,800
Inventis Basic Audiometer
Hospital Federico Lleras, Human Milk Bank - Ibagué
Dec 2017 - £4,200
Human Milk extractor and water purifier.
Fundación Amadehu, Ibagué
Aug 2017 - £250
Tableware and Kitchenware,1 printer HP J4660
Clínica Julio Mario Santo Domingo, Barú
April 2017 - £4,000
1 dental units, 1 compresor, 2 fetal dopplers, 2 mechanical baby scale.
Fundacion Jardin de la Niña Maria - Bogotá
March 2017 - £1,200
A Whirlpool washing machine and dryer for the girls personal care.
Hogar Nazareth Cristo Maestro, Bogota
Feb 2017 - £4,500
Donation of a paediatric consultancy room for emergencies: examination bed, oxygen, pulse oximeter, senses diagnostic set, paediatric Tensiometer, 12 beds with bedside tables.
Hospital San Jose de Mariquita - Tolima
Dec 2016 - £4,000
Paediatric nebuliser, paediatric dentistry instrumental, senses diagnostic set, pulse oximeter with neonatal and paediatric sensor, portable venous illuminator, paediatric bed, digital baby scale.
Asociación Creemos en Ti - Bogotá
Dec 2016 - £4,000
Computers to treat psychological abused children.
Fundación Madre Canguro, Medellin
July 2016 - £7,900
Bilirubinometer and Biliblanket for premature babies.
FIRE Centro Colombiano de Epilepsia, Cartagena
March 2016 - £10,800
Portable ventilator for young adults and children.
Fundación FIDEC, Barranquilla
Dec 2015 - £1,900
Stimulation equipment for severely disabled children with neurological disorders.
Fundación Diversidad - Medellin
Dec 2015 - £3,500
Multisensorial equipment to stimulate severeley disabled children.
Fundación Camino a la Esperanza (FUCAES) - Bogotá
June 2015 - £1,000
1 Wheelchair, 5 floor mattresses and other crucial items for the rehabilitation of severely disabled children taken care of by a community mother in her own house.
Hospital San Juan de Dios - Rio Sucio, Caldas
June 2015 - £10,000
2 closed and 2 open incubators that were delivered after a flooding of the mines in the area.
Centro de Salud - Corregimiento Buenos Aires - Sur Bolivar
June 2015 - £5,000
1 Delivery bed, 2 portable Oxigen tanks, 1 Solar fridge, 1 Stretcher, 2 Drip Stands, 1 Nebuliser and other minor items.
Hogares Luz y Vida - Bogotá
Feb 2015 - £1,700
1 Portable defibrillator to help the institution with specialised cardiovascular emergency resuscitation equipment.
Fundación Amadehu - Ibague
Sept 2014 - £1,500
Various small surgical items to furnish the hospital’s paediatric ward with equipment to provide vital care to children and babies.
Hogar Santa Rita de Cascia - Bogotá
Oct 2014 - £20,000
Provision of 10 specialised Beds and 10 paediatric beds to increase the hospital’s ward capacity.
E.S.E Hospital San Pio X Caracoli - Antioquia
March 2014 - £6,000
Donation of an open incubator, neonatal beds and mattresses and a neonatal respiratory support unit to improve the hospital's ability to treat vulnerable new born and young children in the paedriatic ward of this hospital which serves a very needy and isolated infant community in the west Colombian region of Antioquia.
Hospital Mario Gaitan Yanguas - Soacha
June 2012 - £12,500
With the help of sponsorship funds raised by one of our loyal supporters Felipe Posada, when he ran the London British 10K 2012, FOCSA was able to donate a Closed Incubator, Vital Signs Monitor and Phototherapy Lamp to this deserving hospital.