His Eminence Teofan of Moldavia and Bukovina officiated on Friday the Blessing service for the „Veronica” Clinic in Iași, the first socio-medical centre in Romania to offer free medical services to socially vulnerable pregnant women, mothers and their children.
The medical institution was established at charity priest Dan Damaschin’s initiative and through the fundraising efforts of his organization called Asociația Glasul Vieții (“The Voice of Life” Association).
Local officials attended the event, including Mihai Chirica, mayor of Iași, Bogdan Cojocaru, prefect of the Iași county, and the institution’s medical staff.
The Metropolitan of Moldavia and Bukovina spoke of the need and importance of such a medical centre for socially vulnerable communities.
“It is the initiative of a group of people gathered around Father Dan Damaschin and it completes their long-standing activity in support of mothers, fathers and their children”, said the metropolitan.
“This moment is special because this facility has been set up and equipped thanks to donations received from people. People known and not so well known have, over many years, worked hand in hand to bring this initiative to fruition.”
“The centre will be specifically destined for mothers in need. Mothers will find support here, as they have found in the association so far. The level of support provided here will hopefully increase in quality and quantity,” added His Eminence.
Father Dan Damaschin explained how the idea of the clinic appeared. Its name was chosen in memory of Veronica, a mother of five who passed away in 2021, after a serious disease for which she could not afford medical care.
“Veronica is not just the heroine who inspires and watches over us from heaven, but also the symbol of every mother, the symbol of our mothers. We think this clinic will be a place where people will joyfully come to find not only healing, but also happiness and dignity.”
“There is no pride in me saying that we have demonstrated how to set up a hospital with high-quality equipment for the poor within just one year,” added the priest.
“This day is not the peak of our efforts”, Father Dan Damaschin emphasized. „It is the beginning of a much more complex mission in which people of goodwill, our Christians, need to invest a lot of soul and sacrifice to build a better world, a world so beautiful because there is a lot of love in it.”
The clinic offers Ob-Gyn, Internal Medicine, Cardiology, Dentistry and Pediatry services and it is endowed with last-generation medical equipment such as a 2-million-euro MRI and CT scan.
Photo credit: Doxologia.ro
