2008 Visit Reports

Please note, photos to follow shortly

Spring Survey Report, March 2008

The Team for this visit between the 27th February and 5hh of March was Matt Bigwood and John Anyon.

A successful trip which managed to embrace all types of weather, from mild spring sunshine to heavy snow showers, rain and gale force winds!

Our journey to Romania could not have been smoother, and we stopped at our 'usual' restaurant in Sinaia for a very welcome meal.

However, things didn't go quite as smoothly for the rest of the day – it was quite cold in Mina 1 Mai with a lot of snow on the ground. Although three new central heating radiators had been installed in the flat they didn't make a lot of difference and we plugged in the electric radiators, but shortly afterwards we had the first of several power cuts, meaning a rapid retreat to the warmth of our sleeping bags. The power was restored the following morning, but meant we were without hot water or a morning cup of coffee!

On Thursday morning we had a meeting with Head Nurse Stoica at the hospital. She had definite ideas and request for the team, the most important being the re-routing of a hillside spring to provide a source of water for the hospital during the drought period in the summer.

She mentioned that she knows someone with a mechanical digger who could do the heavy work, and the NNRT could fund the hire, pay for the pipes and provide the expertise. The weather meant that it was impractical for us to try to find the source of the spring, and assess the scope of the work required.

The nurse's next priority was the continued rewiring of the hospital, and the replacing of old and dangerous sockets and switches. 

She mentioned the importance of new clothes drying areas in the hospital grounds, and suggested the charity helps with a structure to replace the existing clothes line adjacent to the flat. It could be a simple structure with a concrete base, a roof and a number of parallel clothes lines, each 10-15 metres long, to enable laundry to be dried in all winds and weathers.

She told us that there was a temporary food shortage due to a glitch in the central budget, so we decided to spend the £240 available to us on food from the Metro cash and carry.

We managed to fill three large trolleys with sacks of pasta, flour, tinned meat and fish, cheese, eggs and milk powder. The nurse was extremely appreciative and thanked us warmly, and asked us to pass on her best wishes to all members of the charity. She said that what we had bought would see them through to the end of the month.

Other benefactors also provide food from time to time. During our visit a dairy company from Brasov delivered yoghurts, yoghurt drinks and cheese to each of the 145 patients.

We noticed that prices have risen sharply in the year since we last visited Romania. Essential foodstuff, as well as alcohol and tobacco products had spiralled in cost. We bought a few packets of cigarettes to distribute to patients, and whereas they may have cost 50p a packet last year, they were more than £1 this time. 

Petrol and Diesel were also more expensive, equivalent to around 70p per litre. Hospital staff told us that they were all personally affected by the price rises and some put it down to the country's membership of the EU. On the flip side of this, there were many, many more luxury European cars in Brasov – big Mercedes, Audis, BMWs, and generally fewer old-style Dacias.

We inquired about a religious statue in memory of Phil, but were told that there is no permanent area for worship in the hospital. The Orthodox priest visits from time to time, but the services are held in the dining area.

We raised the subject of mosquito nets to keep flies away from patients in the summer, and the head nurse told us that if the NNRT could buy some rolls of mesh the carpenter would make wooden frames for each of the windows, allowing them to be removed when they aren't needed.

We were shown the new central heating boiler and the new radiators – the building was much warmer than in previous years, and more comfortable. The heating boiler runs on conventional Diesel and is far more efficient than the previous system – the new one burns 18 litres per hour as opposed to 30 per hour in the old one.

The old carpenter's workshop is in the process of being converted into two wards, each large enough to accommodate six patients, in line with EU rules. His workshop is now in a new extension opposite the entrance to the kitchen.

The Head Nurse told us that there is sufficient medication, and that the situation is better than is was a few years ago.

There are lots of tables and chairs in the dining room which have been damaged – backs of chairs missing etc, and the nurse asked if the charity could help with these repairs, although it must be said that it should be a simple enough task for the hospital's carpenter.

On the Friday of our visit an elderly couple of Mormon humanitarian missionaries based in Bucharest visited. They had been drawn to the plight of the hospital by the Mormons based in Charfield, who Wendy had introduced to the NNRT. 

They had arranged to meet Istvan in Brasov to buy an industrial sewing machine for the laundry ladies, and also bought various buckets, tin cups, laundry baskets and cooking pots.
The lady mistook Matt for one of the patients and asked where he had learned such good English. She seemed surprised by the answer: “It's because I am English!”

The sewing machine needs a three-phase electricity supply, and the electrician requires 40-metres of cable to install it, but the hospital does not have funds for this at present. It may be that the summer team buys the cable, but the sewing machine can't be put to use until then.

We took a day-off on Saturday and had a great day out in Poiana Brasov, taking the cable car to the top of the mountain. To top it off we went to Brasov in the afternoon and had a second cable car ride to the top of Mount Tampa.

Sunday began with another power cut. It transpired that on Saturday night a drunken lorry driver tried to reverse his truck near the lower shop, but backed into a power transformer.  It was a particularly cold morning with frequent snow showers – and no heating!

We visited the hospital dining room on Sunday lunchtime and were pleased to see that both quality and quantity of food had improved, with mashed potato, chicken legs, bread and soup, followed by a cake each. 

There were many 'old faces' in the hospital – Costica, in particular, seemed happy and well. Popescu, though, was old and frail and it seemed like he may have suffered a stroke. The young twins weren't there, but Maria was, although she seemed somewhat subdued. By about 3.30pm on Sunday most patients were in bed, perhaps due to some sedative medication as there were very few staff on duty.

We checked the John Roche Surgery in the village and found it to be in very good condition and a monumental improvement over what we saw a year ago. There are a couple of areas of damp which will need to be repaired by the summer team. Istvan told us that during January and February the doctor had only visited once a month, but that as spring approached he hoped she would be there twice a month.

Many things have changed for the better in the hospital, but there are still a great many things that fall behind standards we'd expect to find in a similar hospital in the UK.