NEWS AND VIEWS
Lviv's Sheptytsky Hospital needs support of diaspora
by Dr. Volodymyr Semeniv and the Rev. Andriy Nahirnyak
January 2001 marked the 10th anniversary of the reopening of the Andrey Sheptytsky Hospital. The Narodna Lichnytsya association carried out the general management of the hospital from 1992 through 1995. Thereafter, the curia of the Lviv Eparchy of the Ukrainian Greek-Catholic Church (UGCC) became the proprietor of the hospital.
From 1992 to 1995 the hospital functioned as a 24-hour therapeutic center for 75 patients; since July 1995 it has functioned as a day hospital with 60 beds. Additionally, the hospital has become a diagnostic consultative center.
Presently, the hospital contains an office for: consultants (neuropathologist, surgeon, psychologist, phytotherapeutist) ultrasound diagnostics, echocardiography, roentgen scopia and x-ray scopia, fibrogastroscopy, electrocardiography and electroencephalography, a gynecologist, a proctologist, a dentist, an otolaryngologist, in addition to an office for massages, physiotherapy and a laboratory. The department for Home Care Services, which is financed by Caritas Germany, has been working since December 2000. The department takes care of about 90 elderly people in Lviv. In November 2001, a modern kitchen and laundry room were installed. Presently, we are trying to arrange to have a 20-bed neuro-rehabilitation department for the elderly ready by the autumn of 2002. Currently 50,000 patients are served at the hospital each year.
The mission statement of the hospital is to provide the poor and needy of the city of Lviv and its surrounding area with medical and social care regardless of their ethnic background or religious beliefs.
The Sisters of St. Vincent and the nursing staff take care of the patients. A chaplain has been working full-time in the hospital. Doctors from the Ukrainian Medical Association lend us considerable help as volunteers.
Thanks to Caritas Ukraine the hospital received a two-year grant from Caritas Germany in order to cover current expenses. This grant will expire by the end of 2002. These funds enabled us to renovate rooms and buy new equipment. Our goal is to create a specialized geriatric hospital.
The hospital is funded totally from donations from abroad and locally. Regrettably, since the creation of a medical insurance system is at a deadlock in Parliament, there is no possibility of our hospital receiving any financial support from our federal government in the near future.
Some funds come from our patients as charitable donations, which cover about 40 percent of our current expenses. Nevertheless, with Ukraine's poor economy we do not foresee any notable increase in these figures in the near future.
Within the past year we have brought about a more effective and efficient management of the hospital by exploring new directions for medical help, so as to increase the quantity of donations to the Hospital. We are looking for sponsorship from pharmaceutical firms and Ukrainian sponsors. We renovated rooms and the heating system, the later being done in order to make heating more efficient and less costly. Furthermore, we are planning to establish a paid-services department at the hospital, which although small at first, will contribute positively to the hospital's budget.
With this in mind, we would like to ask readers to examine the possibility of finding organizations and individual persons to assist in providing temporary financing for the Andrey Sheptytsky Hospital by the beginning of 2003. The hospital needs approximately $1,000 U.S. per month. We hope that you understand this situation and the needs of so many.
May God bless you!
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Donations with the notation "charitable donation" may be sent to:
Dr. Volodymyr Semeniv is administrator and the Rev. Andriy Nahirnyak is chaplain at the Andrey Sheptytsky Hospital in Lviv.
Copyright © The Ukrainian Weekly, January 13, 2002, No. 2, Vol. LXX
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