• Vodafone Romania Foundation invested EUR 35,000 in elder people care in Bacau
• Over 350 persons, beneficiaries of the Community Support Foundation, will benefit monthly by medical care services and home care

Vodafone Romania Foundation and Community Support Foundation from Bacau announce the launch of a new program for sustaining the elder people, "Integrated services for elder persons". Through this program, the elder people in Bacau, with health problems can benefit form medical care services and home care, special services for recovering and social services.

"We are happy to support the activity of Community Support Foundation to the benefit of elder persons in Bacau, continuing our commitment to respond the community needs. Within the program 'Integrated services for elder people', we plan for 2008 to help approximately 350 elders per month, by supplying medicines, medical care services, social services and recovery services. Vodafone Romania Foundation will invest EUR 35.000 in this program, that has as a scope improving the life quality for elder persons," said Elena Serban Vodafone Romania Foundation Director.

"The Community Support Foundation develops care programs for elder people from 1997, as a result of identifying this need within the community. All these services are free, provided by a team of professionals, our organization being the first one from Moldavia authorized for these kind of services of home care. The partnership with Vodafone Romania Foundation offers us the opportunity to continue our activity to the benefit of this disadvantaged categories of people, responding to the needs of the community we are part of", said Gabriela Achihai, President of Community Support Foundation from Bacau.

The program "Integrated services for elder people" offers complete and specialized services, overtaking the patient form externalization from hospital, offering medical and social services at home following the therapeutic instructions, until the recovery and reintegration of the person within Day Care Center.

The medical care services offered by the The Community Support Foundation are authorized by the National Health Insurance House, thus all the activities are developed according to the highest standards. These services are provided by specialized nurses with experience, and have as a final scope the accomplishment of all the therapeutic treatment recommended.

Specialized home care is another service offered to elders through this program, in which medical nurses and professional companions pay regulate visits to patients' homes to check on their evolution and offer needed support.

Through this program, elder persons can also benefit from specialized services at the "Dr. Stefan Ciobanu" daycare center, opened in 2002, where elders can participate in recreational, educational, socializing and medical recovery activities - fitness, electrotherapy, kinetotherapy and reflex therapy.

The program also includes an educational component, which proposes to promote the image of active elders, persons able to live a normal social life despite the challenges they encounter. This will be achieved through a quarterly information brochure to be distributed to all interested within the community.

Another major component of this program is the promotion of volunteering among active members of the community, especially teenagers and youngsters in Bacau, especially for social assistance services.

The partnership between the Vodafone Romania Foundation and the Bacau Community Support Foundation started in 2007 with the educational program "Volunteers for rural communities", developed in three communes around the Podu Turcului area. The program aimed at promoting volunteering among high school students in Bacau and discouraging school abandonment in rural areas.

All through the year, Vodafone Romania supported, as sponsor, the Volunteering Awards and the NGO Fair, two of the main events organized by the Bacau Community Support Foundation.

Vodafone Romania Foundation is a Romanian non-governmental organization with a charitable status, distinct from the commercial operations of the company. The activity of the Vodafone Romania Foundation is financed by the Company through an annual budget. In addition, Vodafone Romania employees contribute with monthly donations though the payroll giving system, and Vodafone Group Foundation contributes with annual grants.