BULGARIA

Computer Club for Children

In September 2001, together with the Association for Better Health, we opened the first Computer Club for Children at the Ivan Vasov School in Pleven.

Detelina Orphanage

The Detelina Orphanage in Pleven Bulgaria provides a home to children aged 3-7 years old. CHNF recived a "wishlist" while on a site visit in April 2006. The first item on the list was an awning for a balcony adjacent to the southern exposure of the main building. Funds for this awning as well as for food, medicine and teaching materials were provided through the Association for Better Health in May 2006. Additional reqests included funds for food, medicine, teaching materials, personal hygiene items, clothes. Special projects included requests for funds to build a rehabilitation room, to fund a fresh air camp, and playground renovation.

The Director stands in front of the main entrance of the Detelina Orphanage.	The awning was needed to cover the exposed terrace on the second floor.	The playground is in disrepair and the equipment is very old.

How you can help: Help us expand our support for this orphanage by making a monetary contribution.

Donation of Clinical Diagnostic Reagents by Randox Laboratories Ltd.

Children's Help Net helped initiate and coordinate the donation of clinical diagnostic reagents for blood testing by Randox Laboratories Ltd., a UK company, in cooperation with the Association for Better Health and the Ministry of Health in 2003. Recipient institutions are identified based on need by the Ministry of Health and the Association for Better Health.During 2004 donations were made to Pleven and Gabrovo University Hospitals. In 2005 this project was expanded to include the University Hospitals in Stara Zagora and Varna, and a teaching laboratory at the Nursing College at the Pleven Medical University. This is an on-going program.

Read letters from the Director and from the Rector of the Medical University in Pleven describing the impact of these donations in 2003 and 2004.

Training Program for Parents of Low Birth Weight Children at the Intensive Care Neonatology Clinic, University Hospital Pleven.

The medical team in their training facility.	A mother provides neonatal care to a low birth weight infant.

Mothers of low birth-weight children were trained with their babies in the intensive care unit. Follow-up care was provided until the children reach normal weight. The mortality rate in this group was previously very high. Two of the ten children whose parents refused to participate in the program died after discharge.

This project was presented at the Bulgarian National Congress in Neonatology in early June 2005, and is expected to serve as a model for neonatal care nationwide.

Problem Solving for Better Health® in Bulgaria

Children's Help Net co-sponsored the first Children's Health Initiative ever held by the Dreyfus Health Foundation in Pleven Bulgaria in March 2006. CHNF and the Pleven Municipality funded the 30 projects that resulted from this workshop and are now underway. Topics included children's health, rehabilitation of disabled children, health promotion and health education. Updates on the details of these projects will be provided as they become available. This is the first workshop to deal only with health and social issues affecting children.

Children's Help Net continues to provide donations and supplemental funding for selected projects that result from the Problem Solving for Better Health® program sponsored by the Dreyfus Health Foundation.

• CHNF provided additional funding for 6th "Graf Ignatiev" Primary School in Sofia as part of a PSBH® project to rennovate the playground in 2002. The goal of this project was to get primary school children off the street and provide an alternative supervised recreational activity.
• Basketballs, volley balls and stationary materials were provided for Pleven PSBHN (nursing) projects.
• A laptop computer was donated in 2002 for the purpose of maintaining records on all oncology patients (about 700 a year) who receive radiotherapy treatment at the Oncology Center in Pleven. The processing of these records is critical to the timely receipt of healthcare support from the government that pays for these treatments.
• During 2004 CHNF supported the training 10 general practitioners to work with the newly-introduced software of the National Health Insurance Fund with the goal of reducing the time needed to process paperwork required prior to delivering medical treatment.
• A laptop computer was donated to the Rousse Regional Hospital in 2004 in support of their continuing post-graduate education of nurses and for activities related to Problem Solving for Better Health® projects.
• In 2005 laptop computers were donated to:
  • the Glaucoma Center Pleven for registration and follow-up of patients (1).
  • the Nursing College at the Medical University of Pleven for teaching purposes (1).
  • the Daycare Center for Disabled Children in Pleven for a project to improve reading, writing and fine motor skills (2).

In 2004 a laptop computer was donated to a kindergaarten in Pleven in support of a program to prevent flat foot deformities in 101 children aged 1.5-3 years old. The computer was used for keeping medical records and for preparing educational materials for parents. This program has been expanded to 6 locations. Pictured here are children receiving physical therapy.

Donations to the Association for Better Health

Children's Help Net donated four laptop computers and an LCD projector to the Association for Better Health in support of their everyday activities in October 2003.

View a Quicktime videotaped message from Yanka Tzvetanova, Director of the Association for Better Health. You will need Apple's free Quicktime player to view these messages.

Read about our recent activities in Bulgaria in the June 2005 and January-April 2006 editions of Connections, a publication of the Dreyfus Health Foundation and on the Association for Better Health's Health Digest website.