In thirteen counties in the country there is no specialized palliative care provider. It is a reality that thousands of patients in Romania have to accept. This overall bleak image is compounded by the lack of palliative care beds: 17 counties do not have such beds. At the same time, there are only nine home palliative care services in the entire country, all of them supported only by NGOs, and out of which six belong to the HOSPICE Casa Speranței foundation.
Underfunding, shortages, neglect. And yet there is HOPE
Patients with oncological diseases in Romania may be faced with the implacable "nothing can be done", but for 30 years now, HOSPICE Casa Speranței has been demonstrating day by day, through services and through the people who expertly offer them, that something can still be done. In 30 years, more than 45,000 patients and more than 100,000 family members have witnessed the difference that palliative care can make after lives were shaken to the core by a diagnosis that affects the body, the mind, and that still brings stigmatization.
Companies can come to the aid of patients with incurable diseases cared for by the HOSPICE Casa Speranței foundation through the fiscal policy that allows them to direct up to 20% of the profit or income taxes owed to the state, until December 31. The funds raised in this way ensure the continuity of the free palliative care that more and more patients in Romania need. "It's an essential campaign, one through which we've always managed to attract people with entrepreneurial vision and driven by care for those around them. If we were to make a wish, we would like that this year many more would see in the opportunity of directing the 20% a chance to offer HOPE", states Mirela Nemțanu, executive director of HOSPICE Casa Speranței.
Amalia Enache, the new HOSPICE Casa Speranței ambassador, launched the 20% campaign
This year's 20% campaign also comes with good news: Amalia Enache, PRO TV news anchor, becomes an ambassador for HOSPICE Casa Speranței. "I’ve been there for HOSPICE whenever time allowed. In my heart, I always am and always have been. You can't help but resonate with this cause, inevitably at some point we all have had someone we know who has been diagnosed with this disease whose name we still can’t bear to speak. As a HOSPICE ambassador, I take it upon myself to ensure that the organization's messages and needs, which actually belong to the patients, get to where they need to be more easily. That they get heard, that they get attention. I will stand alongside those who offer HOPE and I sincerely wish to become an important vector in destinies changed for the better", said Amalia Enache.
