More than 30 cyclists will cover a distance of almost 800 km during five days to raise public awareness of the necessity of developing palliative care services in Moldova. The task of each participant in the Hospice Bike Tour is to collect by €500. The proceeds will go to support incurably ill persons who benefit from palliative care services offered by the Day Center “Speranțaˮ based in Chisinau, IPN reports.
Hospices of Hope Moldova executive director Veronica Dragnev-Sacara said the cyclists depart from Chisinau and will travel through Iasi, Bicaz, Viscri, Sinaia to Bucharest. The final destination is the HOSPICE Socio-Medical Center for Children in Adunații Copăceni commune close to Bucharest. Each of the cyclists taking part in the charity race conducts an individual fundraising campaign among their friends or at the company for which they work with the aim of gathering €500. Donation can be made on the website of Hospice of Hope Moldova through the “donate” button.
The organization’s executive director noted that the beneficiaries of the Day Center “Speranțaˮ are persons with life threatening diseases, mostly cancer, who are expected to live for less than two years. “At the center, we have a multidisciplinary team consisting of a doctor, a medical assistant, a social assistant, a psychologist and a physiotherapist who work with these patients to give them hope for life and to ease the pain they suffer due to their condition,” explained Veronica Dragnev-Sacara.
Anthony Mauger has taken part in the Hospice Bike Tour since 2016, when the first race was staged. “The goal is to collect money for palliative care. It is important to promote fundraising, to realize that the people with cancer need our assistance,” he stated.
A teacher by vocation Mariana Sava has cycled for seven years and took part in different charity events. “You feel this pleasure when you help someone. That’s why I decided this year to take part in this race to contribute to a noble cause. I consider this is a difficult route, but the cyclists who are taking part include professional cyclists. I went on tourist tours, but didn’t cover so many kilometers, over 100 km a day. We start the campaign at home by inviting our friends, mates to donate,” stated Mariana Sava.
Participant Corina Ovcharenko noted that palliative care services are a problem that affects her too and she therefore decided to take part. “The statistics of my family show that three of my grandparents died from cancer. In our country, over 25,000 persons need palliative care services each year. For example, yesterday the girls from Hospice said that their organization can offer assistance to 1,000 patients only. We know very well how the system in our country works in this regard. The situation is very depressing. Palliative care services in Chisinau are yet accessible, but outside the city the situation is rather difficult,” she stated.
OTP Bank has stood by Hospices of Hope Moldova for the eighth consecutive year as the General Partner of the charity event #HospiceBikeTour2023.
