Jurek Owsiak annaouncing the theme of the 30th Grand Finale, photo: Grzegorz Adamek

See the light! The GOCC announces the objective of the 30th fundraiser

09 October 2022

This time, the broadly understood diagnostics and treatment of eye diseases in children will be the main objective of the winter fundraiser. The 30th Grand Finale will take place on 30th January 2022. On 9th October, during the meeting with the Collection Centres engaged in the fundraiser in Tuszyn, Jurek Owsiak shared the details of the upcoming project.

The jubilee 30th "Orchestra" will play to aid children's eye medicine, focusing efforts on providing state-of-the-art medical devices for public hospitals across the country. It will be the first fundraiser dedicated to children's ophthalmology, but not the first GOCC project related to the treatment of eye diseases in children. The Foundation has been running the Prevention of Retinopathy of Prematurity Programme for over 20 years. Until autumn of 2021, doctors have examined and diagnosed 261 765 prematurely born babies and saved the eyesight of 11 088 babies!

The theme for the 30th winter fundraiser was announced in Tuszyn, where dozens of the Collection Centres from around the country (and a foreign one from Malmo) came to share their experiences and get familiar with the rules and regulations for the organisers of the local activities during the upcoming Grand Finale. The official registration of the local fundraisers will be launched on 11th October 2021, and the registration process for the volunteers will be open as of 8th November 2021.

The event was also attended by the Mayor of Łódź, Hanna Zdanowska who thanked the Manufaktura Collection Centre from Łódź which coordinated the meeting of the Collection Centres come-together.

I came to thank you - volunteers from Łódź, but also the whole country. Truly, the equipment of nearly 67 mln worth delivered to Łódź by the GOCC Foundation serves patients every day. I wish you a wonderful Grand Finale, thanking you for your great heart and as a volunteer, because I indeed have been a volunteer for many years now - thank you!

Hanna Zdanowska, Mayor of Łódź

Jurek Owsiak and Hanna Zdanowska, photo: Grzegorz Adamek

During the briefing Jurek Owsiak presented also the characteristic rescue can, which David Hasselhoff, the star of the "Sun Patrol", gave to the Mayor of Zielona Góra, Jerzy Łużniak, to be featured on Allegro Auctions for the GOCC.

Jurek Owsiak, photo: Stanisław Wadas

Why ophthalmology?

Vision is considered the leading sense when it comes to a child's development. We rely on sight as the dominant sense, and any problems related to the sense of sight can hinder a child's development and prevent them from discovering the world at the same pace as their peers. A quick and precise diagnosis is a crucial factor for the successful treatment of eyesight. Correct diagnosis is impossible without modern medical devices and appropriate training, so our charity - having consulted with doctors and leading ophthalmologists - decided to make children's eye diseases and disorders the focus of the upcoming fundraiser.

There are 25 medical centres located in 17 cities across the country treating children with eye diseases and disorders. Annually, a couple of thousand young patients are admitted to hospitals due to severe eyesight issues. Doctors help children with deteriorating eyesight, glaucoma, cataracts, various mechanical injuries, birth and developmental defects and cancer. Many of these diseases and defects require complex surgical treatment, and in 2019 alone, there were 650 pediatric eyesight surgeries performed nationwide. In addition, 25% of all surgeries focused on tumour removal*.

Specialists also point out that more and more children and teenagers suffer from myopia, which is becoming epidemic in a growing number of countries and is directly linked to excessive use of electronic devices.

Eye diseases can occur in children at any age, ranging from genetically determined defects, including metabolic diseases and developmental changes in infancy, pathology associated with prematurity, uveitis, inflammation and degeneration of the retina and optic nerve of various aetiologies, complications caused by them, parasitic and zoonotic diseases, vascular anomalies, intra- and extraocular malignancies, ocular disorders in the course of diseases of the circulatory system, and finally trauma to the eye. Uncompensated refractive errors and strabismus are also common causes of reduced visual acuity and visual dysfunction in children and teenagers. The variety of paediatric eye diseases requires not only extensive knowledge, a detailed knowledge of the pathological changes occurring in the organ of vision, the ability to manage the young patient and cooperate with their parents or carers, but also good equipment with specialised medical apparatus.

Prof. Mirosława Grałek, an ophthalmologist with nearly half a century of work experience, the GOCC Foundation expert

What equipment will the GOCC purchase?

Among the equipment most frequently indicated by hospitals as necessary for the efficient diagnosis and treatment of ophthalmology patients are ophthalmoscopes for fundus examination, slit lamps for anterior segment diagnosis, tonometers for measuring intraocular pressure, synoptophores for measuring the angle of strabismus, OCT devices for non-invasive diagnosis of retinal diseases, or operating room equipment such as microscopes and operating tables.

One of the key purchases is to be a device for biplane angiography, which allows for the treatment of retinoblastoma - the most common malignant tumour of the eyeball in children. This equipment enables the use of the most modern and effective method of treating the tumour: intra-arterial chemotherapy.

The aim of the Finale is also to launch Poland's first ophthalmic surgery simulation centre, thanks to which specialists dealing with children will be able to learn the correct movements and techniques of intraocular surgery, which will translate into an improvement in the quality of the operations performed.

About the 29th Grand Finale

Despite the pandemic and the restrictions, which affected, among other things, the timing of the fundraiser, in January this year, the Great Orchestra of Christmas Charity played for the 29th time - exceptionally joyfully and, as it turned out, with a spectacular financial result. A total of PLN 210,813,830.10 was collected (more than PLN 20 million more than during the previous Finale of the Great Orchestra and the highest number in the history of all fundraisers) for the purchase of equipment for paediatric laryngology and head diagnostics. This means that during the last edition of the collection, the GOCC collected almost as much as during the first 13 years of its operations altogether (collections in the years 1993-2005 amounted to PLN 222.5 million).

The 29th Grand Finale involved 1,362 Collection Centres, including 79 International Collection Centres in 28 countries i.a. Australia, Croatia, Tanzania and Vietnam. The fundraiser carried out in a total of 120,000 locations and in 26 different ways (on the day of the Grand Finale), involved thousands of activities organised by local volunteers as well as the 15th Get even with Diabetes Race. The run attracted 15,887 participants in 3,500 cities. In total, they covered more than 130,000 kilometres.

*Data provided by the National Health Fund

The Great Orchestra of Christmas Charity Foundation is a public benefit organisation registered under Polish law staying on the top among the most trusted public entities in the country (according to Brand Asset Valuator). The Foundation has raised over PLN 1 000 000 000 ( EUR 234 500 000,00 ) in aid of public healthcare in Poland. The charity supports public healthcare in Poland by purchasing state-of-the-art equipment for Polish hospitals and clinics.

Anna Libertowska

International PR Specialist at the Great Orchestra of Christmas Charity Foundation