The Foundation
At URGO, we are committed on a daily basis to changing patients’ lives thanks to our innovations. We are experts in healing and treatment. Creating the URGO Corporate Foundation in 2010 was an obvious step for Hervé Le Lous, Founder of the URGO Group. It has a global outlook with over 25 projects in 20 countries around a key focus: training healthcare professionals in better caring for patients.
It supports projects put forward by members of staff in the URGO Group in four key areas: children’s health, wound healing, treating pain and first aid.
An independent, non-profit charitable entity, chaired by Briac Le Lous, the Foundation joins forces with healthcare professionals renowned for their high level of expertise and learned societies down to its Board of Directors.
Four main areas of action
Children’s health
Since its creation, the Foundation has been fighting against Epidermolysis Bullosa, a rare genetic disease that affects 500,000 children around the world. They are “butterfly children” who have skin as fragile as a butterfly’s wings from birth. Any friction creates extremely painful wounds. The Foundation works with charitable partners such as Debra, in Brazil, Colombia, Chile, China, Vietnam, Ukraine and Poland. Together, they help parents to care for their children’s wounds thanks to treatment techniques and product donations, as well as by offering them moments of joy in holiday camps.
The URGO Foundation is also extremely attentive to the nutritional health of children and their mothers. For five years, it has been working alongside the Red Cross in Côte d’Ivoire and Senegal to raise awareness among communities and healthcare professionals about preventing malnutrition.
Wound healing
Faced with the increase in chronic wounds linked to diabetes or cardiovascular diseases all around the world, the Foundation is taking action. It carries out prevention and awareness-raising actions among healthcare professionals with regard to wound healing. In this respect, the European Leg Ulcer and Compression Days, organised since 2017, have trained 10 000 healthcare professionals in 13 countries.
Treating pain
Our expertise has shown us the extent to which pain has an impact on patients’ lives. However, alongside healthcare professionals, the URGO Foundation believes that it can be remedied. Effective non-medicinal solutions exist.
To support research and training, the Foundation is involved in three areas:
• Electrotherapy for joint and muscle pain;
• Electrotherapy for endometriosis;
• Innovative dietary supplements for neuropathic or digestive problems.
First aid
The URGO Group has built its expertise on first aid and emergency care. Today still, the URGO Foundation is convinced of the importance of providing first aid for accidents. In France and Vietnam, pharmacists are trained by the Foundation to deal with these situations.
• In France, with its Emergency First Aid Pharmacy programme, the Foundation trains pharmacists in providing first aid and orienting patients. Hybrid training combining digital and in-person sessions, it is currently aimed at pharmacies in the Paris region before its imminent roll-out on a wider scale.
• In Vietnam, the URGO Foundation, the Vietnamese Red Cross and Pharmacity have launched First Aid Next Door. Thanks to this programme, 300 Vietnamese pharmacists will be trained by Red Cross experts and receive official certification from the country’s Department of Health.
Internationally
Through 25 projects per year, the URGO Foundation implements its actions in 20 countries closely in line with populations’ needs.
