Third Quarterly Report

The challenges of the pandemic around the world continue and have only made things worse in Venezuela. Of the total deaths there, 33% are health professionals, compared to 1-5% for the rest of the world. Malnutrition has also worsened in the country. Because of this, during Q3 we mainly focussed on delivering PPE to health centres to prevent COVID19 contagion and on continuing and expanding our food programmes.

Covid-19

Healing Venezuela has provided basic protective equipment to hospitals and institutions designated by the Venezuelan government to treat COVID19 patients. To date, we have sent 385 face shields, more than 3,000 masks and 100 gallons of disinfectant. Also, we have expanded our network of health centres to include remote areas in the countryside.

Food programme

We resumed the food programme in Caracas and in Guaraunos, a village in Sucre state, feeding 150 children every month. Recently we started also sending medical supplies. On a quarterly basis, the children get a medical examination to make sure they keep healthy.

Mental wellbeing

During Q3, we trained 132 doctors in mental wellbeing techniques including breathing and meditation. Through our social media, we continue delivering online meditations 4 days a week in Spanish accessible to Venezuelans across the world.

Junior doctors

Because junior doctors play a crucial role in state hospitals, during Q3 we continued to pay a monthly grant to 120 doctors. We have also provided them with extra PPE to face the pandemic. At the moment, we have beneficiaries in 5 hospitals in 3 states of Venezuela.

Equipment repair and maintenance

We restarted the maintenance programme for the 3 water treatment plants we have installed in hospitals in Caracas. We also offered training courses to the staff in charge of the equipment, to allow them to check the quality of the water on a quarterly basis.

Pregnancy prevention

During Q3, the pregnancy prevention programme restarted with the COVID19 safety measures in place. Thanks to this programme, 85 teenagers, (with their parents’ consent) and 141 adults can now choose when to become pregnant.

Awareness

During the pandemic, we thought it was important to help Venezuelans (and Spanish-speaking people in general) to keep healthy both mentally and physically through our programme of webinars and Q&A sessions online.

How we did it

Healing Venezuela is run entirely by volunteers and its main strength is the fantastic group of people who support our work and help us keep on growing. Thanks to them, we staged sports events, such as bicycle rides, to raise funds. We also had some helpful coverage in the Metro Newspaper. Despite the difficulties of operating in the pandemic, we have now officially opened branches in France and Spain. As always, many thanks to you all!

Look after yourself and your loved ones!