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ECPC's member of the month September 2010 is:
ELŻBIETA BUDNY (KRWINKA, POLAND)
My Organisation
KRWINKA Foundation for Children with Cancer Diseases
The Krwinka Foundation (the word “krwinka” stands for “blood cell”) was established in 1996 on the initiative of parents. Based on personal experiences, the Foundation - since the very beginning – has been responding to the most important needs of the youngest patients of oncology clinics. This public benefit organisation focuses on providing help and support to children and hospital units which treat the youngest patients with oncology diseases. Such help and support is obviously varied, similarly to how huge the needs of children taken care of by the Foundation are. The foundation’s activity includes: individual help for children who suffer from oncology diseases, support for their families, financing or co-financing of the purchase of medical equipment (for diagnosing, treatment and rehabilitation), modernization of children’s oncology wards and winning over new marrow donors. This activity is realized in 5 long-term programmes:
- Improvement of medical treatment conditions for children with oncology diseases
- Help for children with oncology diseases and their families” – especially help for parents who are in critical situation and need understanding and psychological support
- Enhancing public knowledge in the range oncology diseases
- Marrow Donor” – an author’s programme devoted to winning over potential marrow donors from all over country
- Vaccination of schoolgirls against cervical cancer” – the programme’s objective is to provide free-of-charge vaccination of teenage girls against HPV virus - the cause of cervical cancer.
The Foundation is the initiator of many campaigns informing about cancer and promoting transplants and donating bone marrow, as well as plays the role of an intermediary in providing children and their parents with free-of-charge legal advice.
The Foundation’s employees and patients have their own day – „Congress for the Recovered and Patients Undergoing Cancer Treatment”. The Congress includes meetings of children who are currently undergoing medical treatment and those who have recovered with Polish medicine authorities, artists, sportsmen and sportswomen as well as celebrities.
The Krwinka Foundation has its headquarters in Łódź, Poland, however it operates on the entire territory of the country. Elżbieta Budny, who is a member of Polish Oncology Union, is the Foundation’s President.
Thanks to her determination and expertise in the field of oncology diseases in children, Elżbieta Budny successfully addresses sponsors to promote the ideals of the Foundation and to collect resources for its statutory activities. She organizes spectacular auctions, charity concerts and campaigns; she is not inhibited from turning to important personages in order to win their favour and support in organising charity events.
My story
Elżbieta Budny is a music teacher by education, however her true vocation is to be a community activist. Her painful experiences, related to her son’s oncology disease and death, spurred her to establish – together with other parents – the Foundation for Children with Cancer Diseases called Krwinka. The foundation operates for 12 years now, and its main objective is to render comprehensive help to sick children and their parents, to facilitate the processes of medical treatment, as well as to provide material and financial support for oncology wards and clinics. Elżbieta Budny is also an organizer of a periodic all-Poland programme called “Marrow Donor”, which task is to enhance the society’s knowledge of oncology diseases and their methods of treatment, as well as to win over new marrow donors. As a result of her activity, the Bone Marrow Donors Registry is steadily growing, which in turn improves the chances of the sick who wait for bone marrow transplant. The campaign is always supported by media, celebrities and recognized authorities from the world of medical science. At the beginning, the Foundation was operating locally, however, soon, thanks to Elżbieta Budny’s efforts, it was granted the status of OPP – i.e. a Public Benefit Organisation. Since that moment, the Foundation operates on a national level, helping every oncology centre and their little patients who turn to it for help. However, Elżbieta Budny cherishes her warmest feelings for Maria Konopnicka University Clinical Hospital in Łódź, with which the cooperation proves to be the most fruitful. For 10 years she has worked voluntarily, and she has also been in charge of the organization as its president. She has received diplomas in management, PR and marketing, which enable her to run a NGO. Her greatest successes are those related to the achievements of the Foundation, but most of all the happy faces of children.
How to contact me
email:
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Website: http://www.krwinka.org
See also our previous ECPC Members of the Month.
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