At CIREC Foundation, our work has always been guided by the commitment we hold as an important institution within our country's health sector. Holistically healing the lives of people with disabilities, vulnerable populations and victims of the armed conflict has been our promise of value, and year after year we have worked to direct all our efforts towards our mission.
In November 2020, the San Andrés archipelago was recovering from the damage caused by Hurricane Eta when it was struck by another hurricane, Iota, whose winds of more than 230 kilometres per hour and heavy rain caused a humanitarian emergency that left more than 600 people affected and over 1,900 buildings damaged. This forced the population to face not only that difficult situation, but also to keep coping with the health emergency caused by the COVID-19 pandemic.
Aware of the difficulties facing the island's population, in December 2020 — thanks to funds donated by Fundación Santo Domingo, the support of the Archipelago's Governor's Office and the San Andrés Health Secretariat, and to the people who took COVID-19 tests at our CIREC Clinical Laboratory — our team of specialists travelled to San Andrés to run a COVID-19 Diagnostic Brigade, with the aim of testing those working on the front line of the island's emergency.
The event ran for 3 days, during which the CIREC Clinical Laboratory team carried out around 100 diagnostic tests on firefighters, airport staff, supermarket workers and government employees, aiming to identify infected people in order to establish epidemiological containment, break the chain of transmission and prevent the mass spread of the virus. In addition, the team delivered to the island a supply of more than 800 antigen tests so that coronavirus testing could continue through the San Andrés Health Secretariat.
The Health Secretary of San Andrés, Julián Davis Robinson, highlighted the results of the initiative, stating that it “will help bring down the infection rate by ensuring that positive cases are isolated”. Allen Jay Stephen, Governor of the Archipelago, also thanked «both CIREC Foundation and Fundación Santo Domingo for joining this wave of solidarity taking place in our archipelago department. I can see that the whole exercise that was planned was a success”.
Continuing to build partnerships that allow us to work every day to protect people's health and mitigate the impact of the pandemic across Colombia is the commitment we have made at CIREC Foundation.
#JuntosSanamosVidas
To find out more about this project and/or to contact our Special Projects Unit team, please email us at proyectos_especialesirec@cirec.org
