Human, too human…

The whys and the wherefores of looking after Romania's elderly people

Christine Leșcu, 29.09.2021, 14:00

They are a real treasure, for some…but for other
people, they are a real burden! A lot
of Romania’ s elderly is abandoned both by their families and society. To their
despondency and loneliness, their worrying condition is being added. In most of
the cases, their feeble condition marks their old age. Some of them need
medical care at home, but their very modest incomes turn specialized medical
into something beyond reach. For
the elderly, who become less visible by the day, dignity is something that
needs to be restored. That is exactly what the White-Yellow Foundation seeks to
do. So periodically, physicians, trained nurses, social workers, kinesiotherapy
specialists, psychologists or the sitters working for the Foundation come
knocking at doors that otherwise remain closed. Măriuca Ivan is the president
of the White Yellow Cross Romania. For us, she opened up the door of their
Foundation, which is something she created following a Belgian model.

Mariuca Ivan:

The Belgian
partners came to the country 25 years ago, back in the day I had a job with the
Healthcare Ministry, they spoke very nicely about the concept of home care. We
were trying to reshape the entire configuration of the system. In the first
years after the Revolution, debates evolved around hospital care, much had been
discussed about the ambulatory later, then the family medicine was also
tackled…yet there was a morsel missing, from the big Healthcare cake, the home
care. I did welcome the Belgian partners and I tried to give them my support,
as much as I could, for the development of that system in Romania. I gave up my
job at the Healthcare Ministry as I wanted to prove that was possible, despite
the fact that I did not succeed at the institution! The Cross is a provider of home
care services, it is accredited and licensed by the Romanian State, so it was
also us, the White-Yellow Cross, who succeeded to yet again implement, in the national
legislation, the concept of home care, a category of service which is financed
via the National Health Insurance Fund.

The White-Yellow Cross offers a wide range of
services, such as the administration of medicines, injections, perfusions,
applying a bandage, the measurement of physiological parameters, medical blood
sampling…to put it briefly, everything related to home care, as a desirable
alternative to being admitted to hospital…

Mariuca Ivan:

And that’s how it all began, for our
Foundation, by catering for the needs and the expectations of the people who
live on limited means, financially or socially, and who are unable to look
after themselves! Most of them were elderly people, with no family and
childless. As of late, mostly, the situation has been getting worse because of
migration, since there are parents who were left alone, with nobody to take
care of them. For that, we tried to identify the social projects, we tried to
get funding from the central and the local administrations, for the patients
with social problem, later on we tried to access European funds, but that kind
of money seems to be on the wane, gradually, the municipalities did not provide
that much help either and withdrew their funds, so the elderly sort of belonged
to nobody! That moment, we decided to continue developing paid medical services
for those who could afford that and who obviously were not social cases and we
kind of acted like outlaws, we took from those who could afford paying for the
services we had on offer, and helped the others as well, for whom we did not
have financing.

In other words, the White Yellow Cross, despite all
the hardships, did not abandon anyone, continuing the mission for which it was
created. For 25 years, since it has been set up, the Cross has been providing
home medical care services for more than 24 thousand people. Even during the
pandemic, so with an extra amount of effort, 40 representatives of the White
Yellow Cross have provided medical assistance for around 700-800 patients.

Mariuca Ivan:

Well, it’s been a
long time since some of them have been with us, they’ve been with us five, six or ten
years now. They live thanks to our help and
thanks to the fact that we opened up our doors for them. Actually, we’re the
only ones doing that, and what we find behind the open doors are sad stories
that impress us very much. I have just watched a recording with some of my
assistants speaking about some of our grannies who are no longer among us, we
knew they had nobody, and right after they were gone, on that very day, three
nephews popped up, God knows wherefrom. It is so sad such a story repeats, in
fact they have nobody, but after they are no longer among us, many people turn
up, who suddenly remembered they had to accompany them on their final journey.

For the support of the vulnerable elderly, the White
Yellow cross has developed the so-called Red Button. It is a project that
crowns the Foundation’s entire work so far. We’re speaking about remote
assistance, a system which is complementary to the emergency one, enabling the
elderly to ask for help when most needed. By means of a bracelet, which is very
similar to a wristwatch, provided with a red panic button and which is
wirelessly connected to a large-button cell phone, patients can signal an emergency
pushing that button. The signal is transmitted automatically to a
round-the-clock Dispatch centre. According to how serious the situation is,
the dispatcher initiates a medical protocol, indicating the action that needs
to be taken, that including calling an ambulance.

For the White Yellow Cross Romania Foundation team,
led by Măriuca Ivan, putting a lot of life into everything they do, that is
something crucial.

With no emotional investment, with no
soul, with no love, without determination, you cannot possibly offer quality
services. Instead, as of late, I could feel that, I am even disappointed that
we deteriorated in the fiber of our being, as humans, I can feel there is no sign
of goodwill, no empathy for the ailing ones. That is very sad for me, as a
former pedagogue in that area of training people clad in white dressing gowns. You
cannot speak about sacrifice, about involvement, if you do that, you’re almost
rated as obsolete… It is so sad! That is
exactly why my team is so very special. We’re short of cash, and yet we’re so
rich! The moment we feel we’re hitting the bottom of the abyss, a good angel
appears, saving us, helping us, getting us out of there, taking our message for
us, our vocation and our mission. We do not come to work, as they say, we have
a mission we carry through every day…The reward we get, that is in our souls, the
joy and the satisfaction people convey are the driving engine that helps us
keep going! We are as somebody used to say, the good angel for those who need
us very, very badly and who do not have anybody to help them.

According to Pope Francisc, the elderly need to be
treated with fondness, with gratitude and respect. The elderly people are an
essential part of society, they are the root and the memory of a nation. They
are an indispensable treasure, enabling us to look into the future, with hope
and responsibility.

(Translation by Eugen Nasta)