Accompaniments

Accompaniments are an important part of our work, and behind this seemingly complicated word are real stories of people who fled the war, received the protection of our country and, like us, need to go to the doctor or enroll their children in school. We accompany them to the hospital or schools and support them in their relationship with state institutions when they need it.

Mrs. M. has been part of the CNRR team since 2022. She speaks Ukrainian and, most days, accompanies people from Ukraine to medical appointments. She likes going to maternity hospitals and civil registry offices the most, because she generally doesn't have to give bad news there. She hardly talks about the cases in which she has to go to oncology and translate the doctors' message to patients with serious diagnoses. She has an office phone, but she confesses that she also leaves them her personal number, so they can call her whenever they need her. 

She also tells us about her latest accompaniments: a difficult case of a stage IV oncology patient, but also a parents’ meeting at school to which she accompanied the mother of a boy affected by bullying. Most recently, she accompanied a vulnerable woman from Ukraine, to help her apply for financial incentive for newborns. Sometimes she waits for hours at the hospital with the people she accompanies until they are admitted for a consultation, and when she is not physically accompanying someone to medical appointments, she translates over the phone. The hardest thing for her is breaking bad news to people with difficult diagnoses.

They ask me “What do I do now?” What can I tell them?

Like M., there are other colleagues who accompany displaced people to hospitals and other institutions. Thanks to them, they can access the medical and social services they need to continue their lives in peace in Romania.