The Solidarity project
June 1 - November 30 2021

The Lebanese health sector (both public and private), is suffering from a serious shortage in medical equipment as well as in the supply of critical medicines and consumables. Inflation and diminishing budgets have led several health service provider institutions to lay off health personnel and cut down on services. The corona pandemic has added to the burden in terms of medical treatment and intensive care.

This project is seeking to identify immediate needs in order to be able to better serve patients and their families at the Lebanese public hospitals in addition to showing solidarity to the medical staff by alleviating the daily pressures.

Rafiq Hariri University Hospital (RHUH) is the main referral public hospital for COVID-19 treatment in Lebanon, and has been at the forefront of the national response throughout the pandemic. As such, the pandemic has caused its medical supplies to be exhausted and has affected its staff on all levels specifically from a financial, social and psychological perspective.

This project aims to address the needs of (RHUH), reinforce the system already in place, and apply it as a pilot model for a period of 6 months to be implemented in other hospitals in coming phases of the project.

The generated funds will address the following needs:

1. Increasing the number of Nurse Helpers
Due to the understaffing of nurses, patients are not receiving the adequate assistance that is not necessarily medical, i.e., assistance in feeding patients, moving them to avoid bedsores, assisting them in WCs etc... The hospital currently needs 10 additional Nurse Helpers to take over some of the low-skill tasks of the Nurses who are overwhelmed and exhausted because of the Pandemic. The objective is to relieve the nurses and better serve the patients and their families.

Total funds needed: 72 000 000 LBP
Secured: 55,500,000 LBP
Remaining: 16 500 000 LBP (Equivalent to 1,100 USD as per the current market exchange rate / 1 USD = 15,000 LBP)

2. Equipment, supplies and medications for the prevention and treatment of Bed Sores
Patients, including those suffering from Covid 19, tend to develop severe bedsores due to the fact that they are often bedridden for long stretches of time. The optimal prevention is by intensive nursing care (to move patients regularly, to remove moisture, to apply creams and foams, etc.) and to provide barrier creams and medications.
The hospital is suffering from a severe short supply of appropriate equipment and medications. Moreover, as most families are already suffering from economic constraints, they are often unable to supply these medications themselves.
Purchasing and supplying RHUH with the needed materials, creams, and medications would serve to address this urgent need and will help cure the extremely painful bedsores that the patients are suffering from.

Total funds needed: 65,000 USD
Secured: 1,000 USD
Remaining: 64,000 USD
3. Improving Communication between patients and their families
One of the concerns of COVID-19 patients and their families is the isolation and inability to communicate once they are in the hospital, especially when visits are not allowed. This causes extreme anxiety and heightened stress on both patients and family members. Some are losing their lives without having been able to say goodbye to their families. The communication between patients and their families is crucial in improving their psycho-social wellbeing and therefore in helping them heal.

RHUH has identified this issue as an important need and has put in place an innovative solution. A mobile large screen TV is in place in both the ICU unit and COVID ward through which families can connect via Skype in order to see and speak with patients. Furthermore, a designated space in the hospital has been made available equipped with a laptop and speakers to enable families who cannot access the internet from home to come in and virtually see and speak to the patients.

This is a very welcomed initiative that has a lot of potential to be expanded and the screens to be used can continue to serve future patients with infectious diseases. We have helped RHUH increase the number of screens available to patients and the number of devices available for families in the hospital.

6 tablets were kindly donated by “CISCO” and “Ahla Fawda” to serve this purpose. For now, all needs were secured for RHUH for this component of the project. However, similar needs for other hospitals will need to be addressed at a later stage.

4. Providing incentive to the nursing staff
There is a pressing felt need to provide nursing staff of all levels with some form of recognition for their services and unwavering dedication. This applies to RHUH staff as well as all nurses in Lebanon.
No budget has been allocated for this pillar as all the funds remaining after the accomplishments of the pillars mentioned above will serve to ensure an incentive to the hospital nurses based on their assessed needs.

Your support is highly appreciated to be able to provide all funds needed to ensure the best quality of life for both the COVID-19 patients and the medical team.

The project related costs are estimated in USD according to daily market rate.
We gratefully accept donations in USD, bank USD and LBP.

Funding Goal: 70,000 USD