by Emilia Acevedo Corona
A Makeshift Mexican Hero During COVID Forbes Mexico.
When talking about heroes, one usually thinks of Marvel and DC characters, war icons, important politicians, and other famous characters. One does not traditionally think of foundations and organizations built and run by normal people. Fundación Teletón has been a national hero in Mexico and a source of pride for Mexican society, earning recognition from many Latin American countries since its foundation in 1997. It is the world’s largest non-profit foundation for children with physical disabilities with rehabilitation centers all throughout the country, including a cancer hospital and an autism center. During the pandemic, not only did they continue to do their daily rehabilitation and treatment activities remotely, but they also offered their infrastructure for the Mexican government to use as hospitals to treat COVID patients as well as other vulnerable communities, free of cost.
their technology so that our health professionals and therapists could remotely provide therapy for their patients and continue their patients’ rehabilitation.” -Rossana Corona, Teletón Adjunct CEO Founded 24 years ago, Fundación Teletón has since built 24 rehabilitation centers throughout Mexico and have treated more than 454,000 people since 1999. In order to raise funds for their operation and maintenance, Fundación Teletón holds an annual fundraising event that is streamed on live television by Latin America’s largest mass media company, Televisa. This event maintains at least 1 million people watching the 17-hour-long event at all times, according to the Teletón board of directors. “Fundación Teleton has a very important role in Mexico, and it has been supported throughout many years by large international
“Fundación Teletón adapted
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