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Current Appeals and Projects that are making every day count....
UK Offices - I.T. Equipment
Bucharest In-Patient Hospice Appeal
Bagpuss Children's Appeal
Rural Project
2012 Bucharest In-Patient Hospices Appeal
Please watch our latest appeal that was televised on Meridian TV just before Christmas - click on the link http://youtu.be/-A-mOGwIndg
In Romania, 75% of people reach the terminal stage of their illness before seeing a doctor. Despite the immense success of our own hospice services and others that have since been founded in the country, still 90% of terminally ill people die at home with little support or pain relief.
 The World Health Organisation recommends a total of 230 specialist palliative care beds for Bucharest: there are currently NONE!
Hospices of Hope provides a hospital and home visiting service in the City and has also recently opened an out-patient clinic.
Our partner Hospice Casa Sperantei was the first Romanian hospice organisation. Together we built a 20 bed in-patient hospice in Brasov in 2001. Since its establishment the hospice has cared for more than 11,000 adults and children and trained more than 9,000 healthcare professionals.
It is now our intention to build a new Hospice of Hope in Bucharest with 20 beds for adults and 10 respite beds for children and a teaching centre. The building will also provide a day centre, out-patient clinic and house the home-care services team.
The appeal to build the hospice was launched in September 2008 by the Duchess of Norfolk. However, the collapse of Lehman Brothers and the unfolding world recession persuaded us to stop the appeal for a period and concentrate on maintaining existing services through difficult economic times.
 Then in 2009, Patrick Desbiens, the General Manager of GlaxoSmithKline in Romania gathered a group of Chief Executives and Ambassadors to raise the 4.7 million Euros needed to build the hospice and to pay for the first 9 months of running costs. The “Honorary Patrons” met in September 2009 and have continued meeting monthly ever since to raise the money, find the right site and govern the process of getting the hospice built and running.
Vodafone committed €600,000 Euro, GlaxoSmithKline €500,00, a private individual gave €200,000, Raiffeisen Bank gave €100,000, Amgen gave €100,000, BCR gave 100,000 and 33 other companies and individuals gave more than €10,000. The total pledged in October 2011 was €2,608,803, of which €933,503 had been received.
In 2010, the charity explored the possibility using public land through a concession from one of the Sectors in Bucharest. After lengthy negotiations, it became apparent that the process would take a long time and would involve too many risks for the charity to take on. Therefore, in November 2010 the Honorary Patrons took the decision to look for a suitable private piece of land to buy.
 By January 2011, 5 private options had been found, but a piece of land next to a lake and close to central Bucharest was clearly identified as the best option. The owner of the land had experienced the recent death of his brother to cancer, and understood the need for palliative care. Consequently he sold the land for a significant discount. By mid November 2011 the plans were approved and the building permits received, the appeal has now been publicly launched in Romania.
In December 2010, the Florescu family contacted to charity to offer their family’s Summer residence as a children’s hospice. The property is 18 km South of Bucharest. The extensive buildings include a working farm with pigs, sheep, goats and chickens. The main building can be converted into an inpatient hospice with 10 beds for children. The other buildings will be used for activities and for the day centre for children to visit. The surrounding fields and lake will be ideal for the children to play in. We plan to use these facilities to provi de respite care for the children of Bucharest who suffer with life limiting illnesses. We also plan to hold summer camps for them and their siblings, using volunteers from the companies which support us, both in Romania and the UK.
If you would like more information please contact us or download a pledge form
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Bagpuss Children's Appeal
Our work with children with life-threatening illnesses has attracted the endorsement of the BBC Children’s TV character Bagpuss. Following the construction of the six-bedded in-patient facility and day care unit, children now have the opportunity to receive specialist care at home and in the hospice.
Brightly decorated with images of Bagpuss and other characters, the wing represents an oasis when compared with state-run hospitals and the conditions seen in the many run-down apartment blocks.
We were concerned and surprised to learn that over half of the children referred to the service, many of who have long-term life-threatening conditions, receive no schooling from the state. As well as running the in-patient unit for children and day care centre, we also run a 'school' for children to attend. 
 Although Romania is now a member of the EU, few people realise that 14% of the population still live on £1.08 per day or less (the World Health Organisation describes this as “absolute poverty”) and the government states that 44% of the total population still live “in poverty”. Most of this poverty can be found in the rural areas of the country and patients with a terminal illness are particularly severely affected.
This is why we would like to ask you to join with us in helping to tackle the problem.
The hospice movement in Romania is really starting to grow, but most of the services to date are located in the major cities. We would like to pilot a mobile hospice service in two rural areas of Brasov County. The 'Rural Project' will establish two multi-disciplinary teams that will be supervised by Hospice Casa Sperantei in Brasov, but will be based in two smaller towns (Fagaras and Zarnesti) and reach out to patients in the surrounding areas. The teams will be developed and evaluated over a 3 year period with the intention of presenting a model of care to the Romanian government that can then be replicated in the rest of the country. 
The 'Rural Project' will cost £275,000 over three years, and through supporting this appeal, you could be making one of the most important contributions possible to the development of hospice care in Romania at the present time. Whatever you can contribute will make an enormous difference to some of the most vulnerable people in Europe.
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