Ten years ago, it was almost impossible for children with orphan diseases to receive complex care, especially if the child lived in a remote region. Today, the situation has changed significantly. There are several foundations that successfully cure rare diseases with the financial support of socially responsible businesses.
However, the problems are still far from being fully resolved, although financial assistance for children often equals for them the opportunity to live.
Dmitry Gordovich is one of those entrepreneurs who is engaged in targeted charitable activities to support people suffering from cystic fibrosis and primary ciliary dyskinesia (PCD).
In this article, we will take a closer look at the life of Dmitry Gordovich and how his efforts through the BBR bank have impacted Cystic fibrosis diagnosis and treatment in children.
Early Diagnosis as the Key to Effective Treatment
Cystic fibrosis and PCD are genetic diseases that are difficult to detect. The life of a child with a mutated gene depends on the stage at which doctors diagnose the disease and on the correctness of the treatment.
Often residents of various regions lack funds to get to the clinic where doctors will make the correct diagnosis and help with the appointment of therapy. Parents can only rely on charitable foundations that provide complex assistance to people with cystic fibrosis and PCD.
One of these foundations is Ostrova, founded in St. Petersburg in 2010. The foundation carries out its activities through financial assistance from partner organizations, which include BBR Bank.
Dmitry Gordovich holds the position of Deputy Head of the Network Development Department in this financial institution. Besides, he is a member of the Board of Trustees of the Ostrova Foundation.
The foundation and BBR Bank have been cooperating for many years. At the expense of charitable funds, a number of programs are being implemented aimed at diagnosing genetic diseases, helping patients in the regions, and implementing research projects.
Dmitry Gordovich is personally involved in the life of the foundation as well as takes measures to attract funding for new initiatives.
Among the latest programs implemented with the support of BBR Bank are:
- Sequencing: it is a genetic study of patients, necessary to obtain targeted therapy. A new generation of drugs can significantly improve the quality of life of patients with cystic fibrosis — but expensive diagnostics are necessary to obtain them. Twenty patients are examined annually at the expense of the bank.
- Patient strategic session: it is a separate area of the foundation’s work in the regions. The Ostrova charity foundation helps parents to form initiative groups in order to interact more effectively with local health institutions.
- Lung transplantation: preparation for this operation requires specialized nutrition. The bank transfers 4.2 million rubles per year to the foundation for its purchase.
With the financial support of BBR Bank and Dmitry Gordovich, studies of primary ciliary dyskinesia are being conducted on the basis of the Research Centre of Medical Genetics named after N. P. Bochkov and Scientific Research Clinical Institute of Childhood.
This solves the main problem of children with PCD — the difficulty of making a diagnosis. Specialists need to study about 40 genes to identify the mutation and prescribe therapy.
The Ostrova Foundation not only helps children with diagnosis. It also conducts educational work to draw attention to PCD and achieve the inclusion of the disease in the orphan diseases register.
In this case, sick children will be able to get registered as disabled persons and get expensive medicines. So far, such patients have received hardly any attention from the state and research is carried out at the expense of grants.
At the initiative of Dmitry Gordovich, BBR Bank sponsored the participation of Tatiana Kiyan, senior researcher at the Research Centre of Medical Genetics who is engaged in the study of primary ciliary dyskinesia, in the European Pediatric Conference in Belgrade.
The bank also compensated for the costs of flight and accommodation and paid for the publication of the report.
Support for Other Projects
As one of the top managers of BBR Bank, Dmitry Gordovich stands for the support of social and publicly significant projects. Among the large-scale sporting events are the annual BBR Bank White Nights Open squash tournament and the Tramontana Boulder Battle.
The following organizations receive assistance on an ongoing basis: the Change One Life and Nizhegorodsky foundations, the council of veterans of the NGO Energomash, and the Kurortny boarding house, built and equipped for round-the-clock accommodation of elderly people in need of care.
Brief Biography of Dmitry Gordovich
Dmitry Gordovich is an entrepreneur and a top manager. He was born in 1969 in Petropavlovsk-Kamchatsky. In 2001, he graduated with honors from the St. Petersburg Institute of Modern Economics and Technology.
The work biography of Dmitry Gordovich:
- 1999: Founded Viadi LLC (later renamed Ingredients. Development). This manufacturing company was engaged in the development and production of additives and mixtures for the food industry.
- From 2007 to 2016: Advisor to the Manager for the development of client business in the branch of the Baltic Development Bank CJSC (since 2012 — BBR Bank).
- From 2016 to the present: Deputy Head of the Network Development Department.
As a trustee of the Ostrova foundation, the top manager participates in the discussion of the foundation’s activities, influences decision-making, and helps determine the vector of the organization’s development in the future.
