
Freia, a stoma patient, with Dr Svetco
Thanks to donations from across the UK, and help in all weathers from volunteers, we were able to ship donated supplies with an original value of more than £683,000 to Moldova and Romania in 2012.
The bulk of these were colostomy, urostomy and ileostomy supplies passed on to us by individuals, support groups, hospitals and charities. As new these were worth over £500,000.
This is ten times what we sent in 2010. It is desperate that most of our stoma patients would receive no support at all without supplies sent from the UK.
The family of one of our Moldovan patients, Dumitru Popa, travels 100km from Ungheni to Chisinau and 100km back every month to collect his supplies. He wrote,
“Dear Hospice Angelus, I wanted to send a sincere thank you from the bottom of my heart for helping me by providing bags for my intestinal stoma. Because of the low pension that I receive, I cannot afford to buy these myself. Thank you that you exist and that you help people like me.“
Many patients can’t travel to the hospice, so friends and family are regular callers to pick up supplies. In Moldova, our partner Hospice Angelus has 1,325 patients registered for free stoma bags. In Romania, our partner Hospice Casa Sperantei (Home of Hope) has about 300 stoma therapy consultations a year.
“Before patients heard about us,” Hospice Angelus doctor Andrei says, “they used household accessories for their stoma bags including unsterile plastic bags and bottles. Even finding places to buy stoma bags is impossible and very expensive for patients. We are so grateful to our supporters in the UK for sending these much needed accessories to Moldova.”
John McKellar, our Moldova Country Manager, writes,
ʺUnfortunately in Moldova patients do not get bags supplied to them, and if they cannot afford to buy them they resort to using plastic bags, which is very unhygienic and distressing for them. Once they have been discharged from hospital they do not get any follow up specialist support, and this also leads to serious problems. Many of these patients go on to need hospice/palliative care which is offered by the Hospice Angelus home care teams.”
As John says, the shortfall in supplies from the UK means that patients are either
ʺforced to make use of their own makeshift bags to cope with their ailment, or they end up using stoma bags for days at a time, which increases the risk of infection and is extremely unhygienic.ʺ
When patients have been operated on and are told that they will need to use stoma bags, they panic as they are told that they must pay for them. However they are increasingly referred to Hospice Angelus where they are provided with free bags and free instruction.

Advice on stoma bags from Dr Svetco
Pavel from Chisinau tells us,
“If I have a problem with my stoma bags or if I need some advice I can come to Hospice Angelus and talk to the doctors who know how to help me. Before I came to Hospice Angelus, I was told by the doctor at the Oncology Institute that I would have to go to Russia to get the proper bags. I couldn’t do this. My family doctor told me about the work that Hospice Angelus do and so I came and asked for help. They said yes. I was so happy. Before, I used plastic bags from supermarkets as stoma bags. It was very upsetting.”
Maria from Grigoriopol is pleased with the service she receives.
“I call a week before I need a new supply of stoma bags and then a week later my husband comes to Chisinau and collects them. I also get accessories to clean the bags and extra glue pads for additional support.”
Serghei from Ialoveni tells us that
“I don’t have enough money to buy food and therefore there is no possibility that I could afford to buy stoma bags. Before I heard of Hospice Angelus, I had to buy bags and make them last for days. This was so unhygienic but also left me with no money. But now I have help from the hospice and my quality of life is so much better. I can walk around my village and spend time with my friends. Before I could not do this.”
Moldova is easily the poorest country in Europe. 26% of Moldovans live in absolute poverty on less than £1.60 a day, which the UN considers
“a condition characterised by severe deprivation of basic human needs, including food, safe drinking water, sanitation facilities, health, shelter, education and information. It depends not only on income but also on access to services.”
2% of Moldovans live in extreme poverty with an income of 80p a day or less. For more than a quarter of the population, buying one £3.00 stoma bag would be an unrealisable luxury. One a day would be impossible. Not surprisingly, bags are traded on the black market and rarely reach the people who need them most. Hospice Angelus tries to ensure that the right people receive the materials they need.
Hospice social worker Tatiana comments,
“Some of our patients who receive stoma bags also become volunteers. Because of the amount of bags that we receive each month from organisations such as Ostomy Aid, it is very difficult to find the resources within our staff to put together the packages for each patient. Our more able volunteers come in on a weekly basis to help us put the packs together. There is a real sense of community.”
Dr Olga Svetco is Hospice Angelus’s medic responsible for distributing the stoma bags. She tells us,
“Stoma support helps our patients live a normal life. It enables people to feel more active and live more socially. Our patients’ families also feel more at ease as they can relax knowing that their family member is comfortable. The Hospice Angelus office is a safe environment where patients are treated as individuals and with care. They can ask anything and we treat them with respect. They also meet other patients in the same situation and can see that they are not alone.”
496 breast prostheses were also donated to Hospices of Hope in 2012. 336 were sent to Moldova. 160 were sent to Hospice Casa Sperantei in Romania where 1299 breast care and lymphoedema consultations took place in Brasov and Bucharest.

Back in the UK, Hospices of Hope relies on three volunteers, Andrew, Steve and Colin, and an existing logistics system for 19 charity shops to process all the donations arriving. Our Distribution Centre Manager, Jo (pictured), somehow copes with the squeeze. Our administrator, Barbara, keeps in touch with the huge variety of donors.
We are grateful to Tidings Magazine, Ostomy Aid (pictured), nurses, support groups, patients and family members who have helped already.

Word has got around.
We know our patients are very grateful for every bit of material and compassionate support. Keep it coming!
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