Live Every Moment With Dignity - Hospice of Hope Facility Opening

Yesterday was the ribbon cutting and the ceremony to open the new portion of the facilities here in Copaceni’s Hospice of Hope. The last few days after our arrival in Bucharest were hectic and full of joy as we help prepare the final pieces to ensure things went smoothly. Seeing the various families, the few volunteers, and the extra support from technical, piano tuning, bed rearranging, water testing expertise has been awesome. Our specialization has become IKEA furniture assembly.

After arriving from our overnight bus trip Tuesday to Wednesday, we were kindly picked up by one of the fellow volunteers at Hopsice who also has his own Ministry and non-profit organization he runs with his wife. We learned of the crazy driving in Romania quickly, especially from such a wonderful, calm demeanor man, to be weaving in and out of traffic and halting often abruptly for random pedestrians. The history of the work him and and wife do is inspiring, and their true love story of an American girl being hosted by his adopted parents in high school melted my heart. We learned a bit more history of the lack of hospice care in Romania, some of their political and economical challenges, and of varying hurdles for Hopsice of Hope to overcome for the opening of even the added facility. Our arrival led us to meet Ash, the director of Hopsice here who moved from England some years ago. He had the most quaint dorm room set up for Sarah and I to stay, and assured us this area would be the most quiet for our nearly three week visit. Despite longingly looking at the bed and wanting to nap in the afternoon, we knew there was a lot of work to do and could not wait to see how we might be used!

The main newly renovated building itself was remarkable. Some of the homes and building on the 2 acres have already been renovated, but this building, a mansion really, is the main new portion where there are areas for 12 in patient care beds, speech therapy, physical therapy, social work, psychological counseling, virtual and augmentaed reality play, classrooms, play rooms and in facility hospital care for when the kids are here. This facility would be unique in providing these kiddos the varying services, while also supporting their families and siblings to stay during their care as well, something that is quite a distinguishing factor. We also learned of the history of this building in particular, and the generous donation from the Florescu family and vision for transformation. Various portion of the building, including the staircase and archway are even governmentally protected due to their historical significance from decades prior when the home was a communist soldiers shared summer home. The different rooms have the various services, and the majority had quite some assembling to master. Once we got the grand tour, it was time to be put to work. Tunes went on, and we were able to complete the classrooms, social workers rooms, pantry, laundry room, and some various bookshelves for storage. Mission accomplished, for the day. We knew we would be busy all day Thursday with more assembly in the main mansion, along with a smaller home that would be used to house families and siblings.

Thursday I was able to sleep in a little, fighting a cold, but knew I needed to bounce back and start assembling anything that was left! Friday was going to be here all so soon. The home we were tackling included wardrobes, a bed, futon, and a kitchen. There were no lights however, so the pressure was on to finish what we could by dark. After getting the bedrooms done, cabinet bases for the kitchen assembled, and at least pieces sorted some, we decided we could no longer see, and the phone flashlights would not cut it. Joining Ash and folks in the main mansion, we knocked out a few more small items and things were truly looking like they would come together! Ash and Edi both were joining us for a delicious vegetarian dinner, so we started prep around 9:30, knowing we all were getting to end of the night and they still had to commute back to Bucharest. Our little Copaceni family. It is remarkable how generous and caring so many people are. We continue to feel so grateful, and were continuously reminded of our many blessings. Dinner was lovely, learning more of peoples stories, and knowing we are part of something quite special and amazing that so many kids and families are going to be able to benefit from.

Friday morning meant finalizing as much as possible before the 10am press conference! We had to complete the kitchen, so we woke at sunrise and wanted to be sure we had enough time to do any miscellaneous items before things started to get too hectic. The press seemed to go well, and we continued working in the small house undisturbed. They were filming the kids playing on the trampoline and enjoying the ability to be outside in beautiful weather still. The caterers arrived, others started to spread out across the facility scoping it out, taking photos, and asking plenty of questions I was not always able to facilitate. The cars kept rolling in and there was even a bus provided for some of those coming from Bucharest, about a 45 minute drive. Seeing more kids join at the playground, parents laughing, talking together, and all the true joy in those arriving to see the remarkable transformation was overwhelming. It was so clear that this facility would have such a beautiful impact on those families and so many others.

The afternoon and evening continued with a grand tour with many of the guests and sponsors, BBQ and spirits, and wonderful speeches, music, and the official ribbon cutting. We met some amazing people, including other Americans who I plan on being in touch with as well. The stories all felt so familiar, with a serendipitous reason as to their involvement with Hopsice. Many of the kids continued to play on the playground and run around with their green balloons for Hospice. The most beautiful young girl shared much of her struggle with us, the impact of her experience so far in Romania, and her thinking through what she may want to be when she grows up. Connecting with some of those who will be using the facilities is truly powerful and only reinforces the need and purpose behind our presence with such an amazing opportunity and organization. Her smile hearing how beautiful she is, how intelligent and mature she was, felt like she was surprised. I just wanted to continue telling her how wonderfully worth it she is. How beautiful all of the kids are, regardless of their capabilities, each and every one will have a better opportunity at a better quality of life with their families.

All of these interactions continue aligning. An open mind and desire to expand knowledge, understanding, cultural awareness, and stretch impact all seem so serendipitous. There is no way we could have better planned where we are right now. The best part, is knowing these ‘coincides’ will persist, and will continue proving beautiful. The next couple of weeks will continue teaching me so much about this precious life and sharing the excitement of the new center with the kids as they arrive more on Monday. I look forward to whatever is to come through this experience and know in just these few days, how special this place and all of the wonderful people here really are.

Feel free to share their link and mission, or send me a message if you are interested in understanding even more!

http://copaceni.hospice.ro/en/