Liberty Seguros is committed to society and aware of the importance of the support from private companies to the organisations that are leading the management of the COVID-19 health emergency and its consequences. For that reason, the insurer has made various donations to entities operating in Spain, Portugal, Republic of Ireland and Northern Ireland, where it carries out its business operations in Europe.
Thus, it has donated €250,000 to the charity Doctors Without Borders, with the aim of supporting professionals who are responding in Europe to medical needs. generated by this pandemic, which has mainly hit Italy and Spain and affected 100 other countries throughout the world.
“At Liberty, we want people feel safe. Therefore, as a socially responsible company, we believe that it is our obligation to make an effort to support the professionals who are working day by day to protect people and helping to stop this crisis. We also want to thank them for everything they are doing for our employees, clients, mediators and partners, for our families and for our society at large”, explains Tom McIlduff, CEO of Liberty in Europe.
To this day, Doctors Without Borders in Spain has participated in the evaluation of the response in around 12 hospitals, collaborated in the creation of 22 hospital extensions, which are allowing to decongest emergencies and intensive care rooms, and also facilitating the delivery of medical materials and logistical resources.
In addition, with the aim of maximizing their response capacity and reaching the maximum number of health professionals, socio-health workers, cleaning personnel, structure managers and other professionals, Doctors Without Borders in Spain has developed some tools such as guides, protocols and audiovisual content, which are accessible on a specific website for professionals.
This disease seriously affects the elderly. Thus, a large part of the efforts of Doctors Without Borders have focused on this vulnerable group and on supportingnursing homes. So far, more than 100 nursing homes in Spain have already been advised, and they continue to work to reach many more. In Portugal, Doctor Without Borders teams have started to visit nursing homes and supporting authorities and management teams to train staff and establish basic hygiene and prevention of transmission measures. In Italy, they support a network of nursing homes in various cities, to prevent the spread of affected cases.
In France and Belgium, Doctors Without Borders is focused on helping migrants and homeless people. Thus, its teams have been pulled out in some of the emergency shelters established to accommodate people living on the streets during the confinement and in other collective accommodation facilities, providing medical support, assessing health status and identify possible COVID 19 cases. They also attend general enquiriesclose to food distribution points, five days a week.
In Spain, Liberty has made a donation of 50,000 euros to the Red Cross to help with sending medical supplies to medical professionals and hospital centres in the most affected regions, as well as delivering food and other basic necessities to those in need.
In Ireland, donations have also been made to Pieta House and Alone. These charities reach protected characteristic groups that are at specific risk of social exclusion, such as the elderly and people with mental health disorders.