A local family is providing a nine-bedroom house to enable The Friends’ Hospice to resume its charitable work for the people of the Paphos region.
The Municipality has granted permission for the change of use from private house to a hospice and the Ministry of Health in Nicosia, having seen the Hospice’s plans and examined the accounts, have renewed its annual grant to the charity.
Peyia and Tala councils have given the project their support. The building, in Tala village, will be named Waugh House, The Friends’ Hospice.
A Paphos architecture firm, Lambrianou Koutsolambros, working free of charge, is drawing up final plans and seeking tenders for the provision and installation of a lift.
Since it had to vacate its dedicated wing in St George’s Polyclinic in Paphos ten months ago, the Hospice has been working with local businesses, charitable organisations and other concerned groups to resume its operations. Meanwhile, its four charity shops in Chlorakas, Polis, Kato Paphos and Pissouri, all manned by volunteers, have been raising necessary funds for the resumption of the Hospice’s work.
Two thousand people of all nationalities have received treatment since The Friends’ Hospice began operations in 2006. It costs €250,000 a year to provide its palliative care – completely free of charge – to those with illnesses for which there is no medical cure. Although the majority of patients suffer from cancer, the Hospice treats those with neurological illnesses and end-stage cardiac or pulmonary sickness, as well as other life-limiting complaints.
Cyprus E Mall (cyprusmall.com) is donating 1% of the profits on the sale of a wide range of products, and Omirou & Omirou LLC, a highly-regarded local firm of lawyers, has adopted the Hospice as its charity. Several other organisations have offered their support to help a re-opening.
Meanwhile, the Cyprus Anticancer Society and its president, Dr Adamos Adamou (currently Speaker of the Cyprus Parliament), are keen to continue and develop their working relationship with the Hospice.
“This, together with the provision of palliative care as part of GESY, are our strategic aims,” Chris Jones, President of The Friends’ Hospice Foundation, told the Paphos Post.
“The situation is very positive and we’re confident that we can move speedily when all of the pieces are in place. The continued support and efforts of the Cyprus people are taking us nearer. I don’t believe in empty promises, so I won’t predict when, exactly, we will reopen. But we will be ready to provide palliative care for the people of the Paphos district when that moment comes.”
