Hope rises: EUR 5.7 million palliative care center opens in Bucharest

Newsroom 29/09/2014 | 10:35

Over 5,000 people die of cancer every year in Bucharest, but only 9 percent of the capital’s sufferers have access to free palliative care, according to Hospice of Hope. But patients can now take heart from the opening of a new palliative care center in Bucharest.

Oana Vasiliu

After a EUR 5.7 million investment, Hospice of Hope has opened a new palliative care center, in Bucharest’s District 2. In 2009, the UK’s Duchess of Norfolk made the first call for donations for the center, a plea echoed by Marina Sturdza and HIRH Dominic von Habsburg, among other donors, patrons, sponsors and founder members. “We have been able to achieve more than we even dreamed was possible, to raise EUR 5.7 million during a worldwide recession that hit Romania just as we began our fundraising campaign. Tonight marks a victory for this country’s civil society and represents a landmark in the country’s progress. And, make no mistake, civil society is alive and well in Romania,” said Sturdza in a speech to mark the launch of the center.

“Today is a day of great celebration, and I think it is a miracle that we are here. I can imagine how much work was put in and how many obstacles were surpassed to open this center, and I want to congratulate everyone because it was teamwork. I believe that this hospice will become increasingly strong and I can also imagine how many people it will help over the years,” said the Duchess of Norfolk, patron of Hospice Casa Sperantei for 20 years now, in her opening speech.

According to a Hospice of Hope report, over 5,000 people die of cancer every year in Bucharest, with only 9 percent of cancer sufferers having access to free palliative care in the capital. The report found that more than 15,000 patients need this service annually in Bucharest and the surrounding areas.

“It’s true that there is a great tradition that certainly started with my grandmother, Queen Maria, who was a nurse and went to the frontline to take care of soldiers from both sides of the line. She also founded several hospitals in Romania. (…) Ileana, my mother, opened her doors to Romanian soldiers when she was living in Austria, turning her house into a hospital. She knew it wasn’t enough, so she returned to Romania and built another hospital in Bran. (…) For me, the great meaning of this hospice is a continuation of what these two great women have done before,” added von Habsburg.

The new center, which has three floors and covers 3,421 sqm, is the first and only palliative care center with integrated services in Bucharest, providing free support to terminally ill children and adults. Patients have access to homecare services, ambulatory care, hospital admissions, social services and psycho-emotional counseling.

The facility also has a multilingual teaching center for physicians and nurses, with courses to start in October. Subscriptions started two years in advance. Hospice of Hope will serve as a training center for over 12,000 hospice staff from Serbia, Albania, Macedonia, Bulgaria, Moldova and also Asian states such as Kyrgyzstan. It has partnered with the Ministry of Health to develop a national program for palliative care in Romania. “Bucharest can rightly be proud of what has been accomplished. This building is a model for Eastern Europe and will also provide a teaching center that spreads its wings and knowledge to the entire country and beyond, forming the physicians and nurses and hospice advocates to whom we will entrust the future care of our parents, our friends and children, and perhaps, whose services we ourselves may need,” added Sturdza.

Another EUR 390,000 needed

The Bucharest center can accommodate 2,000 patients a year, while the Hospice of Hope team can perform 11,000 homecare visits and over 8,000 ambulatory consultations. Moreover, 5,000 visits can take place in the center, where patients can take part in recreational activities.

To fund all this, the Bucharest center needs EUR 390,000 to function fully for a period of nine months. “And now, we have another miracle to perform, and we surely will! We must raise another EUR 400,000 to complete the equipment and fund the first nine months of the new hospice. Together we will make that next miracle happen. It cannot come soon enough for those hundreds of terminally ill children and adults waiting for our help,” commented Sturdza in her speech.

The center includes two units, one for adults and another for children, with 23 beds that can accommodate 700 admissions in one year.

Profile Graham Perolls- Founder & executive director of Hospice of Hope

Englishman Graham Perolls came to Romania as a tourist in 1975 and returned several times throughout the seventies. In 1989, after some family problems, he revisited the country and was horrified by the poor conditions. A few months later, he pioneered hospice care in Romania, which was then nonexistent. In 1992, the Brasov Hospice of Hope house was opened. Dr. Constantin Voincu became the first medical director, and was soon joined by Sylvia Jarrett, a homecare sister from the Elleanor Foundation, who started training the first Romanian nurse, Gabi Baila. In 1996, a pediatrician and children’s nurse joined the team, which meant that families with terminally ill children had some form of support for the first time. Since then, the center has continuously grown, training over 12,000 doctors and nurses in all aspects of hospice care and providing care for thousands of children and adults who needed support to fight their diseases.

In 2013, in her New Year’s Honours List, the UK’s Queen Elisabeth awarded Perolls the Order of the Companion of St Michael and St George for his services to hospice and palliative care in Eastern Europe. The order is given to people who do extraordinary or important non-military service in a foreign country, which Perolls has been doing in Romania for the last 22 years.

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