Today we celebrate a significant day - Day for Older Persons is meant to remind us that senior citizens deserve our respect, attention, and care. What is more, the International Day for Older Persons aims to promote critical principles, which have been established to respond to the challenges faced by older persons and build a more inclusive and safe community for all ages. The key objectives listed by the United Nations include the fight against age-motivated discrimination (issues connected to ageism), prevention of disability, providing appropriate and suitable medical care, and ensuring that older persons have full access and can participate in the cultural and economic life of their communities.
When it comes to the penultimate objective, the Great Orchestra of Christmas Charity donated equipment for nearly PLN 99 million to Poland's geriatric wards and long-term care facilities. Senior care was the focus of our fundraisers five times when we noticed how neglected this branch of medicine is and how appalling the conditions at the wards where older persons receive care were. So we donated 13 642 medical devices and pieces of furniture (such as beds with bedside cabinets and anti-bedsore mattresses). We have also used the media reach of our Grand Finale fundraisers to publicize senior care in the media and to draw the public's attention to the way we treat older persons - both in our lives and in social life as a whole.
Overall, we supported:
We bought different types of equipment, including:
The digital PET-CT scanner is a device which allows highly accurate and detailed imaging of tumour foci in children bodies. This equipment purchased by the Great Orchestra of Christmas Charity Foundation for nearly PLN 16 mln is the most expensive machine in the history of the GOCC.
On the 76th anniversary of the United Nations (on 24th October 2021) during the UN Day Gala, Jerzy Owsiak was appointed as the Goodwill Ambassador of the UN Sustainable Development and received the UN Sustainable Development Architect Award.
A 10-year-old Mateusz Jarantowski from Poznań saved his uncle's life! The boy completed the CPR for Schools training organised by the GOCC Foundation. Boy's school, 18th Primary School in Poznań, held a special event to celebrate Matusz's outstanding bravery.
