Hospices of Hope’s mission is to support the development of palliative care services in South and East Europe. When the war in Ukraine began in 2022, our initial response was to provide emergency support for our colleagues in the Ivano-Frankivsk group of hospices.

Now, 3 years on, and sadly the war continues. Thanks to your generosity during this period we have been able to help by funding:

• An ambulance to transport patients from war-torn areas in the east to safer regions in the west
• Generators to ensure power remains available during blackouts
• Essential medicines that were in critically short supply
• Supported the running costs of a 30 bed hospice and their home-care team

Your support has also helped Ukrainian refugees in Romania and Moldova through our partners. Together, we have provided shelter and essential care for displaced families at Copaceni children’s centre near Bucharest, ensured palliative care for refugee cancer patients at Hospice Casa Speranței in Bucharest, delivered medical aid to refugees arriving at the Moldovan border through our partner’s day care centres in Orhei and Chișinău.

Our long-term vision is to help establish a sustainable hospice movement throughout Ukraine. An estimated 600,000 people—including soldiers—are in urgent need of palliative care. However, with funding cuts, medical staff shortages, and the ongoing war, providing this essential care remains a significant challenge.

Our efforts continue, and since our last update, we’ve made important progress:

• Expanding Palliative Care in Kyiv: In January, we rented a clinic building in Kyiv for Svoyi, allowing them to expand their home-care services and launch outpatient and day-care services. We have also funded key staff, including a full-time doctor, Dr. Zoia Maksymova (an experienced palliative care specialist), a second full-time nurse, and a medical secretary.
• New Palliative Care Service in Ivano-Frankivsk: We have secured office space within the Chamber of Commerce and are applying for a license to establish a new charitable home-care service in the city and surrounding areas. This initiative will be led by Dr. Iryna Slugotska, our first contact in Ivano-Frankivsk.
• Training the Next Generation of Palliative Care Nurses: We are running an online training program for 40 nurses in Ivano-Frankivsk, featuring expert instructors from the UK and Romania. The course is being recorded and uploaded to an online platform, ensuring it can be used to train nurses across Ukraine.

These are just the first steps in what we hope will be a far-reaching transformation of palliative care in Ukraine—where the need is greater than ever.

How You Can Help

Your support has already made an incredible impact, but there is still so much more to do. As we take these next steps, we need your help to:

– Fund essential medical staff and equipment
– Expand the home-care services to reach more patients
– Train more healthcare professionals to provide compassionate, specialised care

Every donation will help us to make progress, and to bring comfort and dignity to those facing life-limiting illness. Please consider making a gift today to help us continue this vital work.

British Ambassador Hosts Event for Ukraine’s Palliative Care Expansion 

An inspiring fundraising event was recently held at the British Ambassador’s Residence in Ukraine in support for Hospices of Hope and our mission to enhance palliative care services in Ukraine. The evening brought together leaders across various industries to spotlight the vital work being done by the charity. The event was attended by our founder, Graham Perolls CMG, OBE.

Showcasing a Legacy of Care
The event offered an opportunity to share our journey, from our origins in the UK to our now expanding global impact, and particularly our ongoing efforts in Ukraine. We shared how the success of palliative care models in the UK and core hospice values are being integrated with our Ukraine partners, helping to provide comfort and dignity to patients during their most difficult times.

Challenges and Hope
The war in Ukraine has understandably shifted the focus of corporate donations towards defense efforts. Despite these challenges, Hospices of Hope remains steadfast in our mission. Through continued advocacy, collaboration with businesses, and outreach to government structures, our organisation aims to foster a greater understanding of the importance of palliative care and expand its support network.

Moving Forward Together
This event marks a significant step in raising awareness and forging partnerships to address the urgent need for palliative care in Ukraine. Although the path is not without obstacles, the resilience and generosity of our supporters offer a beacon of hope for a brighter future. 

A Collaborative Atmosphere
Hosted with the invaluable support of His Britannic Majesty’s Ambassador, Martin Harris CMG OBE, the event brought together representatives from sectors such as investment, consulting, law, construction, and metallurgy, alongside members of the American Chamber of Commerce in Ukraine and UK-based firms operating in Kyiv. In a spirit of collaboration and constructive dialogue, attendees discussed challenges and opportunities for business development amid the ongoing war and explored ways to support social initiatives. Many were pleasantly surprised by the progress made in developing palliative care in Western Ukraine, due to our long-term efforts. 

Hospices of Hope Paris Event 2024 

On Tuesday 22nd October Hospices of Hope hosted a networking event at the Romanian Embassy in Paris, welcoming 80 distinguished guests.

The evening began with a gracious welcome from Her Excellency, Ioana Bivolaru, Ambassador of Romania to France. We are deeply grateful for her support and for the opportunity to gather at the Embassy.

A highlight of the event was an inspiring speech from long-standing supporter Gregoire Vigroux, who spoke passionately about the important role charities play in the business world. Drawing from his personal experiences, Gregoire shared how he and his team have supported Hospices of Hope’s initiatives in Romania and reaffirmed his commitment to our cause.

Mirela Nementau, CEO of our partner organisation, Hospices Casa Speranței in Romania, provided an insightful update on the challenges and opportunities they face. She highlighted their most ambitious project to date: building a new Children’s Hospice Hospital. Fundraising efforts are currently underway to ensure this transformative project becomes a reality.

The evening also provided an update on the charity’s presence in France, highlighting its operation under the Fondation de France platform, which allows donations from both individuals and businesses, which now qualify for tax reductions in the country.

Guests were treated to a captivating performance by a pianist and a baritone, whose moving concert added an elegant touch to the night.

The event concluded with a cocktail reception, offering guests the opportunity to network, share ideas, and foster connections. We look forward to our next event in Paris in 2025! 

Hospices of Hope is a UK and US based charity which supports and promotes the development of hospice care in South and East Europe.

It was founded by Graham Perolls in 1991. From very small beginnings, the charity has developed into the largest hospice/palliative care network in South and East Europe.

Graham’s journey, and that of Hospices of Hope, started with a visit to a cancer ward in Brasov, Romania. That visit was the first step in developing an organisation that has helped thousands of patients and their family members.

“In 1980 my father died from cancer at St Christopher’s Hospice in London. The amazing care he received there inspired me to set up the Ellenor Hospice charity in my home town of Dartford.

Five years previously in 1975, I had visited Romania as a tourist and a chance encounter with a young Romanian couple in the medieval city of Brasov led to a lasting friendship and a deep interest in the country and its people.

I visited Romania several times during the communist period and again a few days after the “revolution” in the closing days of 1989.”

At the time there were heart-breaking images on TV and in the press of the abandoned children in state orphanages and the horrendous conditions in other state institutions. But nothing could have prepared me for the reality – seeing the situation for myself was simply shocking.

I asked my friends to take me to the cancer hospital in Brasov. The consultant in charge took me to see a young man who was dying in terrible pain.

Seeing him planted a seed in my mind. It made me think that perhaps I could use my experience setting up the Ellenor Hospice to do something to help.

I discovered that care for terminally ill patients in Romania was non-existent. They were simply sent home to die without pain relief or emotional, spiritual or psychological support. Their families had to cope as best they could and this led to unimaginable suffering.

In 1991, the trustees of the Ellenor Hospice agreed to me raising funds for Romania. One of the Ellenor nurses offered to go out and live in Brasov for two years to train our first Romanian nurse.

Things moved quickly from then on. In 1992, we organised a conference in Brasov to raise awareness of the need for good care at the end of life. This created huge interest.

We then registered the first Romanian hospice charity, called Hospice Casa Sperantei (Home of Hope), and employed the first nurse and part-time doctor.

This small team, supplemented by UK volunteers, visited patients in their own homes in Brasov. Patients and families were astonished that someone was there to help them and was doing so free of charge.

Over time, the number of patients grew and more medical staff were employed, including a paediatrician and children’s nurse. This meant that, for the first time, families with terminally ill children had some sort of support.

Hospice Casa Sperantei has been our main Romanian country partner from the start but in 2011 we added Hospice Emanuel, Oradea, as a second Romanian partner in order to support an organisation that has coverage in the northern part of the country. Hospice Emanuel provides home care services for adults and children and are planning to build a day centre and in-patient unit.

For the first 5 years we focussed on caring for patients in their own homes.

Education and Training

We always recognised the importance of education and training. By training medical professionals in end of life care we knew we could improve the quality of life for so many more people.

To achieve this we opened the Princess Diana Education Centre in Brasov in 1997. The Centre was named after the Princess in recognition of her support for our work. It is a residential training facility for medical professionals and its training courses are internationally recognised. Since it was opened with our support our partner has trained thousands of medical professionals from more than 23 different countries.

The first in-patient teaching hospice in Romania

1998 brought another breakthrough. Brasov Council donated a plot of land for the first in-patient teaching hospice in Romania and £1 million was raised in the UK to build it. The hospice has beds for both adults and children and is recognised as a Centre of Excellence. The hospice includes our Bagpuss Children’s Wing.

USA

As a result of increasing support from donors in the United States, we established a fundraising office in New York in 2000.

In 2001, the Open Society Institute in New York commissioned a research project which looked into the provision of hospice care in Eastern Europe and Central Asia. The report’s researchers from the University of Sheffield identified Hospice Casa Sperantei as a “Palliative Care Beacon” in South-Eastern Europe and recommended that it should “develop its regional role in the Balkans”.

This recommendation led to the next stage of the journey – developing hospice services across Romania (particularly in Bucharest the capital) and using our expertise to develop and promote hospice services in other countries in the region by creating an international network.

To achieve this, we launched the “Beacon Appeal” in 2003, which raised more than £1.25 million.

As a result of this appeal we:

■ Opened the Nicholas Edeleanu Training and Resource Institute in Bucharest

■ Funded a home care service in Bucharest

■ Pioneered two mobile services based in Fagaras and Zarnesti which brought much needed care to patients in two very poor rural areas of Romania

■ Established a partnership in 2006 with a new hospice charity in Serbia – BELhospice

■ Started working in the Republic of Moldova in 2008

Following a 6 year funding campaign, a long-standing dream was realised with the opening of the first in-patient teaching hospice in Bucharest. The Duchess of Norfolk and HIRH Dominic Habsburg cut the ribbon to ‘officially’ open the hospice on September 19th 2014.

In 2017, His Royal Highness, King Charles III, visited the Bucharest Hospice as part of Hospice Casa Sperantei’s 25th anniversary celebrations.

Supporting a new service for childeren

In 2018 Hospice Casa Sperantei officially opened Adunatii Copaceni, a socio-medical centre located in the countryside just 20km from Bucharest. The centre is unique in Romania and provides services for children and families affected by rare or life-limiting illness such as cystic fibrosis and muscular dystrophy. The day care and therapy units began operating in 2019 and in 2021, we added a residential respite service for children and family members.

Our annual series of summer trips in Romania began as far back 2002 to provide respite and fun for some of our child patients and children who have suffered bereavement or have a family member cared for by the hospice. Most of the camps are now held at Adunatii Copaceni.

Medical Supplies

We started shipping donated medical supplies to Romania in the nineties and now also send these supplies to Moldova and Albania.

Following the success of the Beacon Appeal we extended our work into other countries and established the Hospices of Hope Network.

Serbia

BELhospice in Belgrade, Serbia became our country partner in 2006.

Serbia has the highest cancer mortality rate in Europe but Belhospice, is still the only NGO in Serbia offering free of charge specialist palliative care.

BELhospice offers home-care services in Belgrade. In 2018 the first hospice care centre was opened and a palliative day-care service was added – the first in the country.

Our long term aim is to facilitate the opening of an in-patient unit in Belgrade.

Moldova

Moldova is by far the poorest country in Europe. Many patients have to cope with dreadful living conditions as well as dealing with their illness.

We began in 2008 by supporting a home-care service in the capital, Chisinau. In 2017 we started supporting a number of small hospice organisations in more rural locations to ensure services reach people outside the capital, where there is the most poverty. Our intervention has greatly increased the sustainability of these organisations. We are planning to open a palliative day-care centre in Chisinau.

Albania

In 2018, we were invited to support the fledgling hospice movement in Albania. We started by working with an existing hospice organisation, Ryder Albania, in the capital Tirana and second city Durres and added the ABC foundation in Tirana and Mary Potter Hospice in Korce.

Greece

Palliative care is not yet officially recognised in Greece. We are starting to support two small teams in Athens. Merimna (which in Greek means ‘Care’) – which provides paediatric palliative care home services to children and adolescents who live a life-threatening illness and Nosilia, which provides palliative care for adults. Both these services are based in Athens and are provided free of charge. They rely solely on donations from individuals, companies and foundations, as there is no governmental reimbursement or financial support of any kind. Unfortunately, due to the effects of the COVID-19 pandemic, financial support has drastically decreased.

Ukraine

Following the start of the Russia/Ukraine war in spring 2022, we began supporting Ukrainian refugees through our network in Romania and Moldova. Hospice Casa Sperantei at the children’s centre in Adunatii Copaceni provided temporary accommodation, medical care and has admitted those in need of palliative care to the Bucharest hospice.

We have since made a formal partnership with the Regional Palliative Care Centre Ivano-Frankivsk in Western Ukraine. Some of the senior staff were trained at Hospice Casa Sperantei Brasov prior to the war, so we already had a good relationship with them.

We aim to support them through ongoing funding and development. Once the conflict is resolved, we know the aftermath will be vast and support and assistance will be crucial.

Country partners have facilitated care for more than 70,000 patients and palliative care training for thousands of health care professionals from all over Central and Eastern Europe. For me personally it has been a very rewarding journey

When I first visited Romania in the 1970’s I did not imagine that this region would become my second home! There have been many obstacles to overcome along the way, but with God’s help and the generosity of so many amazing supporters, so much progress has been achieved. There are now 120 organisations in Romania providing end of life care and we are helping the government to devise a national strategy.

I wish I could say that there is now no need for the involvement of Hospices of Hope. But sadly, despite the progress made, there are still huge gaps in the provision of services across the region.

In Romania, Hospice Casa Sperantei is still the only charity which provides the complete range of hospice services for adults and children (in-patient, out-patient, day care and home care). And still only one in eleven terminally ill patients in Romania has access to specialist palliative care. In the other countries within the Hospices of Hope Network the situation is much worse.

Over the years, we have been blessed with so many exceptional leaders and staff members in the countries we work in, but it is always the patients and their amazing courage in the face of great adversity that gives us all the inspiration to continue the journey.”

Graham Perolls, CMG, OBE

In Romania, Hospice Casa Sperantei is still the only charity which provides the complete range of hospice services for adults and children (in-patient, out-patient, day care and home care).

Your money goes much further in the countries where we work.

Dying Matters Awareness Week is an opportunity each year to spark important conversations that will ultimately help people who are dying or grieving. This year’s theme – the way we talk about Dying Matters – highlights the importance of speaking openly about death.

Without these conversations, patients and their families might not get the information, support, and care that they need, or have the knowledge and understanding they need to process their emotions. The avoidance of talking about death and dying can play a big part in delaying access to palliative care services in South and East Europe.

Across our network, nurses, doctors, patients and families understand the power of being open and honest when it comes to end-of-life care.

Support and empowerment through honesty and transparency

“Visiting patients in their homes every day, I learned that each person is unique,” says Nurse Bojana, who has worked at BELhospice in Serbia for over 17 years. “Building trust between the patient, their family, and our team is paramount, and clearly explaining their options and treatment plan helps them to feel involved and empowered.”

Dr Petrescu from Hospice Casa Sperantei in Romania believes you need honesty, patience and kindness to be able to fight for patients to have a good quality of life: “It is important to listen to them, do not judge anyone or anything. Essentially, you have to be human.”

Hospice Casa Sperantei Nurse Pîrvan notes the value of connection that comes with having open conversations: “I sit on the edge of the bed, I listen to their pain, I relieve their wounds and dispel the loneliness – sometimes loneliness is a much bigger burden than the disease itself. And I’m glad to give them hope and the promise that I will return.”

Giving and sharing strength

After surviving cancer 7 times, and losing her sister, mother-in-law and husband to cancer within the space of a year, Geta became a hospice volunteer. She says she was inspired by the support and openness her family received from their hospice team, including through counselling sessions to help them understand and process their diagnosis and the emotions that come with it.

“Discovering hospice changed my perception of everything,” she says. “Here I learned to fight, to hope, I learned to smile again.”

Geta’s personal experience helps her to provide valuable support to hospice patients – she always has positive words of encouragement but is also always honest about the treatment process.

“We are like a family here,” Geta continues. “I know what each patient likes or dislikes, if they drink tea or coffee, prefer music or silence, eat lemon cake or not. My life would not be worth living if someone told me I could not come here anymore. This is the place that gives me strength.”

The way we talk about dying matters

“I see death every day, sometimes it is unavoidable,” says Dr Sandu from Romania. “That knowledge helps to manage emotions. We share with our patients that death does not define them.”

Dr Sandu says it is important not to focus on how unfair a diagnosis might feel, and to instead focus on ensuring the correct care, support, help and hope that a person needs to be able to live a life they can enjoy with their loved ones, until their final days.

“Get to know the patient,” says Nurse Boka. “Understand what they enjoy, their difficulties, what they worry about. Talk with them honestly and openly and, most of all, listen.”

Ultimately, every person is different, and being open, honest and transparent also means giving people the space and opportunity to acknowledge death and the emotions around it in their own way.

“Life is a beautiful miracle,” says Angela, a hospice patient. “Death, I realise now, is a certainty. Some of us become more aware of it, but it is important to focus on the time you have left.”

Anna Perolls was honoured to follow in her father’s footsteps when she stepped into the role of Hospices of Hope’s CEO in 2021. Here, Anna shares a little about her journey with the charity and her vision for the future of hospice care in South and East Europe

What was it like growing up with Hospices of Hope and how did that impact you?

I always joke that as a child, you’re never really interested in what your parents do, so I didn’t really understand what my dad had started until my first visit to Romania when I was 16. I was able to witness the charity’s work first hand and was deeply touched by the difference being made. I fell in love with Romania and was inspired to volunteer for the charity.When I was 18, I moved to Romania for two years to really understand how the hospice works and helps those in need. It is very humbling realising the impact your parents are making, and it was eye opening to see the healthcare situations in other countries. It really gave me the drive and determination to help others, and to continue my parents’ vision.

What was your journey to becoming CEO?

After working for Hospices of Hope for 10 years as Fundraising and Resources Director, I had an opportunity to become a part of the leadership team. When it opened up, I interviewed for the CEO role, hopeful that I would get it against other candidates, and was lucky enough do so! It was the charity’s 30th anniversary year, and we had been planning for some time, so it gave me a huge sense of pride, especially as it was just after the difficult years of the pandemic. I was really excited to step into a role I’ve always wanted, and to think about what the next 30 years might look like. For me, it was a case of same goals, but a new and fresh chapter.

What do you want to see in your time as CEO of Hospices of Hope?

I think unfortunately the fundraising climate is massively changing, so it is a huge worry to raise the funds to enable us to continue to support our hospice partners. I would therefore like to see a sustainable future for Hospices of Hope, to allow us to help each partner to achieve what they need to. Something I’d love to see is the building of a day centre in Greece. The lack of services in the country is shocking, and this is something the hospice teams really want to improve and need our help supporting.

How do you stay positive and hopeful in challenging times?

For me, what keeps me going in the role is the patients and what we do. I’ve been very privileged over the years to meet many patients benefitting from the work we’re doing. Hospices of Hope is very much about serving patients and developing palliative care, we are not here to serve ourselves. I know just how grateful patients are for the help and care, and that without some of our hospice partners they would have nowhere to turn–they are my inspiration and motivation to keep going!Outside of Hospices of Hope, I find happiness with friends, travelling and seeing as many places as possible, and being creative and crafting when I have spare time. I have recently become a mother to my wonderful son, Fredric Woods, so it’s been really exciting navigating this new chapter.

What is your vision for the future of hospice care in South and East Europe?

My vision and Hospices of Hope’s vision is for anyone, child or adult, that needs palliative care to receive it–free of charge. There is still a very long way to go, we need to continue lobbying governments, but with our efforts we will see an improvement and one day our vision will be fulfilled.

We were delighted that our founder, Graham Perolls, was featured in the Church Times last month. In the interview, Graham shares how Hospices of Hope came to be, and how his faith has been a part of his and the charity’s journey.

You can read the full article on the Church Times website here.

In March 2023 our CEO, Anna, made a visit to both partner hospices in Greece; Merimna and Nosilia. Here, she shares her experience.

“Although surprising to some, there is a huge need for palliative care support in Greece. 3,300 children and 135,000 adults require palliative care each year and there is currently no support or funding provided by the state. There are only 3 specialist palliative care teams in Greece, two of those are our partners. On speaking with hospice staff and patients during my visit, it was clear that even the primary care system in the country is very weak, and worsening due to lack of trained personnel. It was wonderful to be able to meet the teams in person at both organisations after many video calls and discussions over the last year. They are so committed to their work and to making a difference in Greece, it was inspiring to hear their stories and to take part in home visits with members of the multi-disciplinary team. One of the families we visited have a 17-month-old son, D. D has a severe condition as well as epilepsy and cannot move or speak. Unfortunately, his diagnosis was not picked up at birth. He was diagnosed at 7 months old after having his first fit, and now requires feeding tubes and consistent care and support.

His parents had tried taking him to their local doctor but were sadly turned away and advised to go to the hospital instead, but there are no specialist doctors at the hospital that could help with D’s condition. After coming across Merimna (the only children’s care organisation) D and his family are now receiving regular visits from the team to help them to understand his diagnosis, manage his symptoms, and to give him a better quality of life for the remaining time he is with them. It was moving to see their gratitude towards the Merimna team and for me, it really demonstrated the impact that could be made for families in Greece with the expansion of services and awareness of the need for palliative care. Our aim is to enable Merimna to employ another full-time nurse, a full-time social worker and to provide a symposium on palliative care that will help to educate more Greek health care professionals. In addition, we are working with Nosilia to fund another home-care team which will enable them to reach more terminally ill adults in the Athens area.”

Our country partners Hospice Casa Sperantei have had a busy start to the year. In January, they won ‘NGO Initiative of the Year’ at the British Romanian Chamber of Commerce Awards Gala in Bucharest. In February, they celebrated their belated 30th anniversary with a special Gala event with our founder; Graham Perolls, and CEO; Anna Perolls, in attendance.

Throughout this 30 year period, more than 45,000 patients and more than 100,000 relatives have benefited from palliative care in Romania, and this was made possible with the help of our supporters.

At the end of the event, CEO of Hospice Casa Sperantei, Mirela Nemtanu, shared the following message:

“It is a great challenge to have to summarise the last 30 years in moments, stories, and highlighting key people. At hospice, every day is one that changes statistics and, I hope also, perceptions of palliative care.

I think that a key moment in the history of hospice is when we were awarded the title of Hospital of the Year in Romania obtained at the end of last year within the Romanian Healthcare Awards. I believe that it is a key moment because it substantiates our status – a hospital that was built and that operates from donations – can be at the top, it can be a benchmark.

The last 30 years are about sponsors, donors, volunteers, ambassadors, media that shared our messages and stories, about our team, about patients who fight, about patients holding hands in their last moments, about belongings that are not left alone and abandoned after losing loved ones. And this moment is an opportunity for me to say a big thank you to everyone who connected to the hospice story ”

The Emanuel Hospice team were recently awarded a ‘Diploma of Excellence’ in the category “Medical Team of the Year” for excellence in providing palliative care services at home. Emanuel Hospice CEO Marinela shares; “This award honors us and, at the same time, motivates us to continue Our mission of providing comfort, dignity and an optimal quality of life to the oncological patients found in advanced stage of illness and to their families.”

Emanuel Hospice were also recently able to open an in-patient unit for adults with advanced cancer and children with life limiting conditions. Patients will benefit from medical consultations, a treatment plan and psychosocial support. Services are also available for the family members of the patients, so they can receive counselling and psycho-emotional assistance as they process their loved ones diagnosis.

We are supporting Emanuel Hospice in funding and recruiting a full time fundraiser, as well as with funding to allow them to retain their clinical team of 6.

In 1994, during the early days of pioneering hospice care in Brasov, I heard about an Orthodox priest called Nicolae, who had a vision to provide spiritual care within the hospitals in Brasov. Each time he set up a little portable “altar” in the Neurology Hospital, so I was told, he found it had been removed. But he didn’t give up, as he knew that the acutely sick and anxious patients in this overcrowded and depressing hospital, desperately needed someone they could pour their heart out to and find comfort in the traditions of their religion. I was intrigued by this story and one morning, I managed to track him down. Nicolae (or Nicu as he is known) immediately struck me as a deeply spiritual, open-hearted, caring and humble man. I told him about starting the hospice in Brasov and invited him to a conference we were about to hold in the city. He replied by saying that he would come but also try to bring along his wife, Daniela, who at the time was training as an oncologist and “would be interested to hear about palliative care”. I was so thankful that he was true to his word, for as soon as I met Daniela, I knew immediately that she was someone special.

The rest is history… In 1995, Daniela agreed to take a job as a doctor in the fledgling hospice home-care team in Brasov. At that stage it comprised of one other doctor, 4 Romanian nurses, a nurse from the UK, and an administrator. Very soon, she was working flat out, visiting very sick cancer patients at home from morning to evening and learning fast about palliative care. Her leadership abilities were clear from the very beginning and she was soon appointed as Hospice Casa Sperantei’s medical director. Daniela is one of those people who always “lights up the room”! Her warm smile, her boundless energy, her positive attitude and determination marked her out from the start as someone who could open doors when others couldn’t. In those early days of the hospice movement in Romania, when frequent visits had to be made to the Ministry of Health and various other authorities, I was always struck by how people took notice when Daniela spoke. Whether it was persuading the medical authorities to allow terminally ill patients to receive morphine for their pain, pressing for the speciality of palliative care to be recognised in the Romanian medical system or ensuring that standards were written and upheld for patients needing care at the end of life, Daniela was crucial to achieving a positive outcome. In those days, with hospice care being a completely new concept, there was a huge need to raise awareness of the needs of the terminally ill and educate health care professionals in all aspects of palliative care.

In 1998, we opened the Princess Diana Palliative Medicine Training Centre in Brasov and again, Daniela took a lead in heading up the educational programmes. Also around this time, she approached me about the need for establishing the first in-patient unit. I remember saying to her that if she found me some land, I would raise the money in the UK to build it!

In 2002, the dream became a reality and the first in-patient hospice opened its doors to patients. This gave palliative care much higher visibility and people came from far and wide to visit the hospice. Since that time, thousands of doctors and nurses from across Romania, and from surrounding countries have attended courses at the Education Centre and received practical hands-on training at the hospice. By this time, Daniela had attended various national and international conferences and had become a sought after speaker and valued expert in the field of palliative care. She was asked to join various committees including the European Association of Palliative Care and the Worldwide Hospice and Palliative Care Alliance. She has also contributed numerous articles to medical books and journals. I particularly like the foreword to a chapter she wrote in a book entitled “Compassion – the essence of Palliative and End of life Care”, in which the author says: “In this chapter, Daniela talks about the place of the heart in the practice of compassion. In the case that she shares, the simplicity of reaching out in a spirit of tenderness and love frames the compassionate response to a child seeking comfort. The idea of a simple act of kindness as a precursor to the deeper compassionate response is evoked in the care shown and learning shared across parts of Eastern Europe.”

In more recent years, Daniela has spearheaded the drive to make palliative care available in the whole of Romania. She is currently involved in a project funded by the EU which aims to design a programme to do just that. She has also been appointed Associate Professor of the Medical Faculty of the University of Brasov and President of the Palliative Care Advisory Commission of the Romanian Ministry of Health. The fact that so many more patients receive palliative care in Romania today is in no small measure due to the tireless efforts of Daniela and her team. And all across Romania and South East Europe, thousands of other health care professionals have been inspired by her example and teaching. Personally, I have loved working with Daniela over the past 26 years and I am still very thankful to God that my curiosity about the priest who had a vision to bring spiritual care to hospital patients in Brasov all those years back led me to a lady who has literally changed the face of dying in Romania.

Graham Perolls, July 2021