The patients suffering from cancer have received two major blows during the pandemic: one because of COVID itself, the other because they had difficult access to the care that they urgently need. The new coronavirus has changed all of our lives and has affected all our society, but in the same time it radically changed the activity of the hospitals that do not treat COVID-19. For patients suffering from an oncological disease, the burden of this incurable illness was even harder.
This is why, the patients suffering from cancer were amongst the most affected people in the pandemic. The diagnostic is late and the care that they need is postponed or even cancelled. The incurable patients have become “the others”, patients that nobody talks so much about, who receive less donations, who are receiving less help.
The incurable patients need us more than ever. The waiting lists are extremely long. The request was huge before – there are more than half a million oncological patients in the databases of the family doctors – but now, in pandemic times, the requests have risen to a dramatic point. HOSPICE Casa Speranţei releases, once more, a public appeal on behalf of the oncological patients: #makeroom for them.
#makeroom for them in hospitals
For patients with cancer, the total number of national hospitalizations has decreased dramatically during the pandemic, with 50% less than the same period of last year. We at HOSPICE Casa Speranţei #makeroom for them. The HOSPICE hospitals have stayed open, as they have always been throughout the last 28 years. The doctors, nurses and all clinical staff of HOSPICE have been at the side of the patients that are left without alternatives.
In the first nine months of the year, we cared for 4.000 patients. Our medical teams have done 4.371 homecare visits, 2.268 outpatient consultations and 8.865 remote consultations. Our therapists have been near our patients with 1.933 psychological counselling therapies and our social assistants have done 3.360 interventions. In total, for all the HOSPICE patients in the two hospitals of Bucharest and Braşov, there were 7.583 days of hospitalization. In order for us to continue offering free palliative care services to our patients we need support.
#makeroom for them in your sponsorships
Because the public hospitals are facing a major crisis, many chronical patients have been sent home. In the same time, the NGO sector that relies on sponsorships and donations is facing several threats because the economy is severely affected by the pandemic and because most of the donations are made towards those who are fighting COVID-19. There were months when HOSPICE saw its sponsorships drop by 90%.
We kindly ask the companies representatives to make room for them, for the oncological patients. Up to the end of the year, the companies can use the fiscal facility that allows the redirection of up to 20% of the profit/income tax owed to the state towards HOSPICE Casa Speranţei foundation. According to the current legislation, the procedure does not involve any supplementary costs for the companies. All that is required is the completion of a sponsorship contract and then the taxes that were paid to the state will now have a solid destination: the help and care of patients suffering from cancer. Details on: https://www.hospice.ro/20hospice/.
#makeroom for them in your donations
700 lei, for example, ensure one day of hospitalization for a patient suffering from an incurable illness. 130 lei represent an intervention in the HOSPICE outpatient unit. 225 lei support one home care visit for a HOSPICE team where a doctor, nurse, therapist and social assistant go to the patient’s home and offer him all the care that he needs in the hardest moment of his life. You can donate any amount. Your gesture will make a big difference for a patient that is going through a challenging time. You can donate as much as you want on https://www.hospice.ro/doneaza/ or you can send an SMS at 8864 with the text TIMP (4 euro/month).
#makeroom for them in our conversations
The pandemic and its effects have forced us to face a new reality. The danger is real and HOSPICE has tried to get involved and to help those who fight the new virus: we tried to help the public hospitals relieve the oncological patients, we offered accommodation in our centres for the doctors who treat COVID-19 patients. However, cancer does not care about the context and the children and adults suffering from an incurable illness need us. They need us to #makeroom for them too. You can tell everyone you know about the #Makeroom campaign and for them, you can send an e-mail to your boss and remind him of the 20% fiscal facility and that your company can do a lot of good without any additional costs. You can follow us on our social media accounts and you can spread the word about how important is the HOSPICE care for the patients with cancer. Maybe now more than ever.
#makeroom for them in your media
Palliative care is a reality existing in every healthcare system and in every society. It does not care about COVID or any other illnesses. At the moment, in Romania there are 172.000 people that need palliative care every year. Overall, the system – public sector, private operators or foundations – respond to only 11% of the need. This was the overall image before the coronavirus pandemic. After the pandemic, the situation has become dramatic. This is why we kindly ask our partners and our media representatives to support us and to help us speak about the non-COVID patients, about “the others” that urgently need palliative care. We kindly ask you to #makeroom for them in the media.
“All the services that we are offering to the patients and their families – hospitalization in the two hospitals of our foundation, homecare visits, outpatient consultations, or different treatments and therapies – are completely free of charge for our patients. To cover all of these expenditures (medicine, treatments and costly procedures) we rely on the support and involvement of the community, because on our own we are not able to help where there is great need. This is why we kindly ask all the people that can support us to make room for them too!” said Mirela Nemţanu, Executive Director of HOSPICE Casa Speranţei.
About HOSPICE Casa Speranţei
HOSPICE Casa Speranţei, non-profit organization established in 1992 in Braşov, has introduced the concept of palliative care in Romania and is the largest foundation in Romania that offers free specialized palliative care services.
The organization has two integrated services hospitals in Braşov and Bucharest, mobile teams in four cities – Bucharest, Braşov, Făgăraş and Zărneşti, in total six centres destined to palliative care and education and more than 100 beds for hospitalization and adjacent activities destined for the care of people diagnosed with incurable illnesses. HOSPICE has developed complete services of palliative care that are being offered in day centres, outpatient and inpatient units, at the homes of the patients and in the partner hospitals. In its 28 years of existence, HOSPICE has brought comfort and hope for more than 35.000 children and adults.
You can support the HOSPICE patients and the cause of palliative care with a donation ( https://www.hospice.ro/doneaza/ ) or with an SMS at 8864 with the text: TIMP
For more information visit us on www.hospice.ro. You can also find us on Facebook and Instagram . You can check our Youtube channel to find out the HOSPICE story and the history of palliative care in Romania.