SOLIDARITY FUND

2004 Solidarity Fund Recipient
Khatuna Mgebrishvili, Project Manager
Georgian CF Foundation

Since 2001 the Georgian CF Foundation has been busy improving CF care in Georgia. Our first step was when Mr. Herman Weggen, president of CFW, visited Georgia and developed a ‘Work plan to increase the care for children with CF in Georgia’.

After a lot of effort, Christine Noke, Project Manager, implemented a five-phase plan to develop a CF Clinic. We have recently completed Phase 1, the renovation and furnishing of a wing of the Children’s Republic Hospital in Tbilisi as a specialized nine-bed CF clinic and diagnostic laboratory. (For more information on the project, visit http://www.cfww.org/projects.asp.)

It is my understanding that the project in Georgia is a Pilot Project for CFW. When I attended the 27th European Cystic Fibrosis Conference last June, I had the chance to see how important this Pilot Project is for other developing countries. Like Georgia, many do not have CF care centers.

I also had the chance to meet with people from developed countries, where CF care is readily available. I will try my best to see that CF care in Georgia will reach these levels and that the people who support us can say our effort has not been in vain, that we have helped more people with CF.

Again, I would like to thank the people from CFW and member countries that made it possible for me to attend, through the Solidarity Fund, the European Cystic Fibrosis Conference. I really felt like a member of a big happy family.

Kind regards,
Khatuna Mgebrishvili

 

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