On 5 and 6 December 2014, the "Telethon Aktion Schweiz" foundation will carry out a solidarity campaign for families suffering from hereditary diseases. Helsana has been supporting Telethon since 2011, and not just with money.
01.12.2014
Some 400,000 people in Switzerland suffer from a rare hereditary disease. Across Europe, there are some 7,000 rare illnesses. Most of them are hereditary in nature, emerge in childhood and offer no chances of recovery. The best that can be done is to provide those afflicted with medication to alleviate the symptoms.
The "Telethon Aktion Schweiz" foundation helps afflicted families. Last year's donation campaign raised CHF 2.2 million, which Telethon invested in research and in the provision of social assistance: for example, by organising a holiday camp for those affected and paying for aids not covered in full by federal disability insurance.
Helsana has been Telethon's main sponsor since 2011. In addition to a financial donation, Helsana places infrastructure and manpower at the foundation's disposal for the two-day telephone campaign that runs for thirty hours on local television channels in French-speaking Switzerland and Ticino. Helsana staff answer calls made to the Lausanne service centre by people wanting to donate money. Every year around sixty staff sign up to volunteer. "As Switzerland's biggest health insurer, we are in a position to draw people's attention to this issue. Telethon improves the quality of life of the families afflicted and makes vital research projects possible," says Céline Verdan, Head of Customer Service Lausanne and Helsana's organiser of the Telethon campaign.
Call our donation hotline at 0800 850 860 or send the following SMS to 339: TELETHON EN, followed by the amount you would like to donate.
You can find more information at telethon.ch (in German).
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