The GOCC Foundation has just completed the three-day-long 66th Open Tender held to buy medical equipment for the fight against sepsis. The Foundation spent a record-breaking amount of PLN 168 million! During the press conference organized within the 66th Open Tender, the Great Orchestra also announced the commencement of a new project in cooperation with the SWPS University of Social Sciences and Humanities and RESQL aimed at raising awareness of mental health in Poland.
We choose quality over price. The quality is the ticket, not the price. We aim to buy the best equipment available. Therefore, I am very happy that again, for the 66th time, we will wisely - as always - use the funds raised by our community!
- Jurek Owsiak, the chairman of the board of the GOCC Foundation
We go for the state-of-the-art equipment which - apart from single cases - was not widely used in Poland before. One such device will be installed in 104 out of over 160 microbiology labs in the country. Thanks to a young man's genius idea, the device combines mass spectrometer technology with a laser and allows for the identification of microorganisms that cause sepsis. A 35-year-old Japanese was presented with a Nobel Prize for creating the device in 2002. Today, the Great Orchestra of Christmas Charity installs 104 pieces of this equipment in Polish labs.
- Professor Bohdan Maruszewski, MD, Ph. D., vice chairman of the board of the Foundation
We wait for such devices. It is a historic moment. I dare to say it is an epoch-making event for diagnostic microbiology. Microbiologists have been waiting for years to receive such equipment.
- Bonita Durnaś, MD, PhD, from the Świętokrzyskie Oncology Centre in Kielce, a member of the expert committee during the 66th Open Tender
Something tells me, and I am positive it is true, that the solution is a cutting-edge system. It is not an interim measure. We are not talking about putting down a small fire or introducing a solution that will soon be forgotten. It is a systemic solution based on solid scientific research. [...] We care for a more friendly atmosphere at school. We are present at almost 100 schools, and we have trained several thousand teachers, guidance counsellors, and psychologists. Right now, we remain in touch with ca. 500 school interventionists with whom we work very closely. It is a tested programme which has been on the market for two years. And it proves that there are systemic solutions to children's and adolescents' psychiatry and psychology challenges.
- Piotr Ciszek, CEO of RESWL, one of the co-designers of the system
We are in the midst of mental health crisis. In Poland and around the world, we face climate, human relationships, and economic crises all of which impact the way we feel. And it is the young people who are affected the most, especially if they do not have access to proper help. The main issue is that most people talk about that crisis, but we together with the Great Orchestra of Christmas Charity decided to act on it. And for that, we want to thank the GOCC Foundation. We want to join forces with the Foundation so that psychological aid based on scientifically tested methods was accessible to children, teenagers, and to people at Pol'and'Rock Festival, the Festival of Good, being itself - for many of us - a form of therapeutic experience.
- Professor Roman Cieślik, PhD, rector of the SWPS University
The fight against sepsis was the main aim of the 31st Grand Finale fundraiser which ended with over PLN 243 million raised. In less than a year, we have organized two Open Tenders to purchase medical equipment for microbiological laboratories across the country.
Jurek Owsiak has just announced the first stars to play the 32nd Grand Finale concert in Warsaw. The annual event organised by the Great Orchestra of Christmas Charity will be held on 28 January 2024 at the PGE Narodowy meadows
41 days before the 32nd Grand Finale and our annual collection is already peaking! PLN 1,108,427 has already powered our fundraiser held in aid of respiratory units across Poland!
