Launched to strengthen the SUS during the pandemic, the Emergency Health Fund distributed R$40 million to hospitals and Santas Casas in 25 states
Broadcast live by Folha, late this Monday afternoon (7), this year's special edition of the awards was focused on the response to Covid-19. And one of the winners was the Emergency Health Fund, led by women, social entrepreneurs, who joined forces to work for a single purpose: helping the Brazilian health system.
Check out the full article published by Folha about the Emergency Health Fund.
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EMERGENCY HEALTH FUND
Organizations Idis, BSocial and Movimento Bem Maior
Entrepreneurs Paula Fabiani, Mariana de Salles Oliveira and Carola Matarazzo
Websites idis.org.br / bsocial.com.br / Movimentobemmaior.org.br
Carola Matarazzo (Movimento Bem Maior) and Mariana de Salles Oliveira (BSocial) were taken by surprise on July 27th in a meeting with the HSP (Hospital São Paulo), when the state was registering 10 thousand new cases of COVID-19 per day .
At the meeting, they represented the Emergency Health Fund, which they founded with Paula Fabiane, president of Idis (Institute for the Development of Social Investment), to help philanthropic homes and hospitals during the pandemic.
The video call about the use of funds directed by the fund to HSP became a kind of virtual gratitude ceremony. The ICU team reported how the disease changed their routine with 1.9 million received, the hospital purchased new medication injection pumps, which freed professionals from the difficult task of choosing which patients would receive treatment and which would go without.
“We were facing an unknown enemy. There was a lack of information and infrastructure, we didn’t even have enough safety equipment”, says Manuel Girão, director of Unifesp’s Escola Paulista de Medicina and president of the strategic council at Hospital São Paulo.
He recalls that, in his first contact with the managers, he even doubted the initiative of a fund aimed at helping hospitals, which was too good to be true.
“In the midst of so much suffering, it was a relief to spend days and nights working to support those on the front line,” says Paula.
It was a resource training effort, a joint effort between the economist, psychologist Mariana, and administrator Carola.
The trio subverted the saying that goes “If you want to go fast, go alone. If you want to go far, go in a group.”
“The fund taught us that it is possible to go fast and far at the same time in the face of the spread of the pandemic in the country”, says Paulo.
Meeting of the female sextet leading the Emergency Health Fund, an initiative that distributed R$40 million to Health during the pandemic. / Disclosure
An experience marked by the strength of the feminine, as the 3 leaders of the initiative had the support of journalist Andréia o Wolffenbuttel (Idis) and the other two co-founders of BSocial, Maria Duva Gullo and Flora Botelho.
“It was networked, decentralized work, where a focused and egoless team was formed that worked for a single purpose with urgency”, describes Carola.
Paula attributes the fund's success to female leadership: “Women have a genuine concern for purpose, and that has made a difference.”
Aware of the COVID-19 scenario in other countries and the exponential demand for hospital beds, the female sextet decided that the focus of the emergency fund would be on strengthening the SUS.
Thus, social entrepreneurs and their teams lost sleepless nights and weekends looking for resources.
In 5 months, they raised more than R$40 million reais. The amount surprised Paula, whose initial goal was to raise R$5 million.
“For every R$5,000, we celebrated”, she remembers, seeing the total volume of resources multiplied by eight.
The key to success was how they organized themselves for action. Carola and Paula led the Idis and Movimento Bem Maior teams to close partnerships and attract large donors among philanthropists and companies.
Meanwhile, Mariana moved staff at BSocial, an online donation platform, to reduce her fees as much as possible and attract individual donors.
“It's an alliance with purpose, this makes the work agile, mature and organized, without ego involved”, says Mariana, highlighting the entities' expertise as social actors and the culture of donation.
In total, more than 10 thousand donors were obtained, including companies of all sizes and varied areas, individuals, family organizations focused on philanthropy.
This is how 53 cities in 25 states across the country had their Santas Casas philanthropic hospitals strengthened at a critical time.
The selection of benefiting hospitals was rigorous, guided by a technical council formed by doctors Marcos Kisil, José Antônio de Lima and José Luiz Setúbal.
The difficult task of choosing which hospitals would receive donations and which would be left out involved the pro bono work of PLKC Advogados and Sitawi Finanças do Bem, who took care of the legal and financial part of the fund.
And they achieved something unprecedented: “For the first time, hospitals didn't need to ask for contributions, we were the ones who went after them and brought them to them”, says Carola, bringing the good news throughout almost the entire country.
Mariana highlights the impact on the teams involved: “Upon learning of the donation, the professionals were moved, they felt seen, with their health efforts recognized for the first time.”
Cláudio Bonduki, professor of gynecology at Escola Paulista de Medicina, who was the bridge between the fund and Hospital São Paulo, says that meeting Carola was a joy.
“With the help of the fund, we were able to structure ourselves and serve those infected in a humane and effective way. We are very grateful to the girls from the Emergency Health Fund.”
“In addition to the achievement of contributing to the SUS, Carola summarizes the feeling behind the initiative: “Knowing that I was able to help save at least one life makes me extremely grateful.”
And thousands of lives were saved in an account that has not yet been closed.
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EMERGENCY HEALTH FUND
- Thousands of people impacted
- R$40 million in mobilized resources
- 60 institutions from 25 states benefited
- 16 Santas Casas de Saúde received resources from the fund
- 2.8 million PPE distributed
- 125 thousand tests for COVID-19 carried out
- 653 hospital equipment donated ready
Article originally published on the Folha de São Paulo website.
