Approximately 1,000 children on a small Greek island will benefit annually from a recent multi-thousand dollar grant made by a Greek Australian organization.
Through a $48,000 grant, The Hellenic Initiative Australia will help to fund critical upgrades of pediatric facilities at the General Hospital-Health Center of Kythira. Such upgrades will provide access to important lifesaving care for residents of the isolated island south of the Peloponnese.
Kythira’s hospital is Greece’s third regional hospital that has benefitted from THI Australia’s grant.
In October 2018 the general hospitals of Ioannina and Kastoria also received support for upgrades of their pediatric and neonatal clinics.
THI Australia provided the $48,000 grant through its partnership with Pediatric Trauma Care (Pedtrauma), an Athens-based non-profit founded in 1998 by a group of doctors and parents.
Since 2010, Pedtrauma has spent more than €1.5 million establishing trauma centers and upgrading pediatric departments and neonatal clinics at 53 public hospitals and health centers in Greece. Pedtrauma also runs trauma prevention programs in schools and provides specialist pediatric trauma training for doctors.
THI Australia President Nicholas Pappas said the organization was proud to be supporting children on Kythira and broadening the impact of its grant to Pedtrauma.
“Thousands of children who pass through the hospitals in Kythira, Ioannina and Kastoria every year will have access to these facilities and lifesaving care as a result of the support from THI Australia,” Pappas said.
To date, more than 7,300 children have benefitted from the upgraded facilities at Ioannina, which opened in October 2018, and more than 5,000 children in Kastoria since September 2018.
Kythira has approximately 5,000 residents and during the summer has a large influx of tourists, especially families. The island is often difficult to access by boat during winter.
The new equipment for the Kythira Pediatric Trauma Center costs approximately $6,800 and is expected to be in place by October 2019.
The final installment of THI Australia’s $48,000 grant will also purchase more equipment for the already upgraded pediatric clinic in Kastoria, which opened in September 2018.
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