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Join the American Friends of Jewish Hospitals and Education Centers of Brazil and support efforts to combat COVID-19 in Brazil

Learn about the work of Sociedade Beneficente Israelita Brasileira Albert Einstein aimed at increasing capacity to address COVID-19 in the public health care system in Brazil and contribute to its fundraising campaign supported by the American Friends of Jewish Hospitals and Education Centers of Brazil.

With the rise of COVID-19 cases in Brazil, the local public health care system faces the challenge of expanding its capacity to serve the population. There is a greater need for beds, equipment, supplies and trained professionals, especially those aimed at assisting patients in serious condition. As in other countries, in Brazil the pandemic has increased the urgency of allocating greater resources in order to save patients’ lives and preserve the safety of health professionals.

Under these circumstances, the Board of Directors of American Friends of Jewish Hospitals and Education Centers of Brazil is launching a fundraising campaign to support the donation program of Sociedade Beneficente Israelita Brasileira Albert Einstein (SBIBAE), which has been focusing its efforts on the fight against COVID-19 on several fronts since the beginning of the pandemic. With its patient care, teaching, research and innovation initiatives aimed at fighting against the disease, SBIBAE seeks to contribute to the health care system’s capability to provide safe quality care to the largest possible number of patients.

SBIBAE was established 65 years ago to contribute to improving the health of all Brazilians, thanks to a group of idealists from the Jewish community.

In light of the most dire moment experienced by the population in recent history, SBIBAE has been employing  wide-ranging efforts to meet the diverse needs arising from the pandemic: from the purchase of protective equipment to the creation of more hospital beds, from humane assistance to cutting-edge research. SBIBAE’s work has always been comprehensive in its reach, and that certainly cannot change now. With consistently high performance, SBIBAE has become a model for initiatives of significant impact in the fight against the advance of the pandemic in the country.

With the support of donors from all over the country, SBIBAE raised around US$ 5 million. Some of these resources were applied to the process of adding 303 new ICU beds. They are distributed throughout public health care facilities that were already under SBIBAE management, located in some of the poorest regions of the São Paulo capital. These include Hospital Municipal M’Boi Mirim – Dr. Moysés Deutsch, Hospital Municipal Vila Santa Catarina – Dr. Gilson de Cássia Marques de Carvalho, and the Campo Limpo Emergency Care Unit, as well as the field hospitals set up at the Pacaembu stadium and at the Morumbi Unit. SBIBAE also ensured the functionality of all beds, providing supplies, hospital materials, equipment such as respirators and monitors, qualified staff to care for patients in critical condition. Altogether, SBIBAE has provided 374 ICU beds for the public health care network in São Paulo, which represents about one-third of the ICU beds in the city of São Paulo.

Donor support has also allowed SBIBAE to purchase medical supplies and personal protective equipment that it has donated to public hospitals in other Brazilian states.  A total of 24,000 liters of alcohol gel sanitizer and 100,000 surgical masks were donated to the Health Secretariat in the state of  Amazonas, 240,000 surgical masks and 5,000 face shields to the state of Pará, and 10,000 liters of alcohol gel sanitizer, 230,000 masks, 25,000 N95 masks and 2,000 face shields to the government of the state of Ceará.

In January 2021, in face of the increase in cases of Covid-19 in Manaus (AM) and the colapse of healthcare services in that state, SBIBAE mobilized efforts to send emergency items for ventilatory support of patients with respiratory failure. In addition, were donated six tons of personal protective equipment. Among them, more than 230,000 masks, including surgical and N95, 20,000 face shields, 15,000 aprons, 250,000 disposable gloves and 10,000 waterproof coveralls.

Donations were defined according to the needs indicated by the Health Secretariat in the state and distributed to the hospitals chosen by the agency.

New fundraising phase will save more lives

Other hospital supplies and equipment continue to be needed and new donations are essential to support public hospitals that face a critical situation, helping to save more lives.  For this reason, the American Friends of Jewish Hospitals and Education Centers of Brazil is raising awareness of the work carried out by SBIBAE and supports fundraising for SBIBAE’s donation program. The funds raised in the next phase of the program will be used to:

• Create new ICU beds in public health care system (SUS) hospitals in other regions where there is a need to expand the service capacity.
• Advance research for new drugs and treatments.
• Continue to support other Brazilian regions identified as experiencing an emergency situation, through the donation of personal protection equipment and hospital supplies.

Research investment

The funds raised in the new phase of SBIBAE’s donation program will also be used to invest in scientific research. The National Research Ethics Commission (CONEP) has already approved 12 projects coordinated by Hospital Israelita Albert Einstein, which is part of SBIBAE, including a study of the use of convalescent plasma in the treatment of patients in critical condition.

In addition, together with the Ministry of Health and other hospitals and public and private health care organizations from all over the country, Hospital Israelita Albert Einstein is working with the COVID Brazil Coalition, to evaluate the effectiveness and safety of potential therapies for COVID-19 patients.

In order to multiply all of these efforts, we ask for your support for Sociedade Beneficente Israelita Brasileira Albert Einstein’s donation program.