A Hospice of Hope for Moldova

The appeal to build a "Hospice of Hope" for Moldova is ongoing. We have made some significant progress since the last report. On 25th August, we were able to sign a memorandum of understanding with the Ministry of Health, thanks to the support of the new Health Minister, Alexandru Gasnas. This is important as we approach some of the major institutions for funding. However, we still need to try and get to 50% of the funding needed for the project before we do this. At the moment we have 26%.

We now have the concept design for the new hospice building and you will see the photo here. 

The next fundraising event in Chisinau is on 5th November, which is our Charity Gala with the theme Chisinau - My Love. 

I was in New York in October and met with the Moldovan Ambassador to the United Nations, H.E. Gheorghe Leuca. He has kindly offered to help me reach out to contacts in the USA who may be interested in helping Moldova. 

We realise that it will take time to achieve the goal of building the new hospice (the first in Chisinau), but it is desperately needed and we hope that many people will get behind it. 

Meanwhile we are continuing to care for patients in their own homes and through the day care centres in Chisinau. 

Patient story:

Mihai, 71 years old,  was referred to our Chisinau team in March 2026. He was diagnosed with cancer of the larynx with secondaries, and he had both a pharyngostomy and tracheostomy. He lives alone (his only daughter lives abroad) and has noone to provide him with day-to-day support. In addition to his cancer diagnosis, he was suffering from severe emotional distress. Due to the tracheostomy, verbal communication is severely restricted and this has led to social isolation, loneliness and depression. All this required a multi-disciplinary intervention. Our nurse provides regular tracheostomy care, our physiotherapist conducts regular rehabilitation sessions aimed at maintaining muscle strength and our doctor is on hand to adjust medications to ensure good pain control. Although the challenges associated with his cancer diagnosis remain, his quality of life has improved greatly and the input from the team has reduced his anxiety and eased his sense of social isolation. It will be hard for Mihai to remain at home when his condition deteriorates further, underlining the need for the new inpatient hospice, where patients will be able to find the right kind of comfort and shelter when they have noone to look after them at home.