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Current Appeals and Projects that are making every day count....
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. 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 24 beds, 6 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.
This year, 2008, the appeal to raise the funds for this is launched in Romania, the UK and the USA. Our aim is to commence building work in 2010 and to open the building early in 2011.
The total cost cost to be raised is £3,800,000, of which £800,000 will be raised in Romania and £640,000 in the UK. To make a pledge to this campaign or to sign up to be kept informed of developments, please download and complete this 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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